Commissioner on Pryor:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7040047/nfl-upholds-terrelle-pryor-5-game-ban-cites-integrity
"I believe it is a fair conclusion that he intentionally took steps to ensure that he would be declared ineligible for further college play and would be able to enter the NFL via the supplemental draft," Goodell said in a news release. "Taken as a whole, I found that this conduct was tantamount to a deliberate manipulation of our eligibility rules in a way that distorts the underlying principles and calls into question the integrity of those rules."
You might disagree with this but Goodell concluded the actions of Pryor had actual NFL draft implications and didn't want to encourage other players from getting around the NFL draft day and that is why the 5 games.
Ray Rice
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/07/25/ray-rice-nfl-suspension-ravens/
Rice’s wife, a source said, made a moving and apparently convincing case to Goodell during a June 16 hearing at Goodell’s office in Manhattan—attended by Rice, GM Ozzie Newsome, club president Dick Cass of Baltimore; and Goodell, Jeff Pash and Adolpho Birch of the league—that the incident in the hotel elevator was a one-time event, and nothing physical had happened in their relationship before or since. She urged Goodell, the source said, to not ruin Rice’s image and career with his sanctions.
This was Rice’s first violation of any NFL policy—personal-conduct or substance-abuse—in his six-year NFL career.
Rice was not convicted of a crime in conjunction with the incident, and the New Jersey prosecutor chose not to pursue a case against him last spring after he entered a pre-trial counseling program.
Rice has been the Ravens’ leading player in volunteer work in the community. At the time of the assault, he led a Maryland anti-bullying campaign. At the Super Bowl last winter, he was part of an NFL player panel for a cable-TV anti-bullying show and spoke emotionally about needing to be vigilant on the subject.
Rice admitted his mistake soon after the incident and went into counseling.
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So the NFL commissioner did weigh a lot of stuff with Rice. He suspended a man that will not even face a trial! That's a pretty hard line to draw in my opinion. You might disagree but infractions of your contract that are football related such as PEDs or circumventing the draft rules probably should have longer suspensions than violations of the contract where there is no-conviction and it was not NFL related. I have a problem with the NJ DA not the NFL commissioner who probably got both suspensions correct.
= new reply since forum marked as read
