Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been suspended for the entirety of the 2022 NFL season due to gambling on NFL games. Ridley was named a second-team All-Pro in 2020 but won’t get a chance to get on the first team this year. Players, no matter their value on a team, should not have the right to bet on games, but a season’s suspension is absurd.

Ridley went on Hard Rock Sportsbook, a betting app. Ridley bet on three, five, and eight team parlays, including a bet on his own team to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, all bets placed between Nov. 23-28 2021. Ridley was not with the team, as he took Oct. 31 to the end of the season off to work on mental health issues.

The NFL definitely has the right to suspend Ridley, especially since one of the bets was on his own team, a Falcons parlay to beat the Jaguars in week 12. However, you can’t possibly tell me a whole year is justified for placing three bets once you look at some of the more recent NFL suspensions.

Tom Brady, four games for deflating footballs. Ray Rice two and Ezekiel Elliot six games for beating women, Adrian Peterson six games for child abuse. Josh Gordon, six seasons for smoking marjuana.

I don’t think people are even talking about the true problem with this whole situation. How are these suspension rules being justified in comparison to the crime committed? How can one of these “celebrities” in the NFL do something against the law and get minimal punishment, but do something against the league and get career-changing punishments?

Ridley will miss 17 games this year, the entire season for making three bets. Should he have done so, definitely not, but should Rice, Elliot, or Peterson have hurt women and children? I’d personally say no.

These NFL suspensions come case by case, and I don’t think the same panel is voting each time. If the same panel was voting each time, Ridley’s punishment had to have been a fine, maybe one game. However, instead, he will miss an entire season, for betting on three games.

The NFL needs to set new rules on how to punish their players because, at the moment, they just seem to be spinning a wheel and handing out the answer it gets. This is an unjust system that is virtually saying abuse is not as bad as betting.

If you think I’m being too harsh, then ask yourself where your morals lie. I would like to see the NFL try and justify how hurting women and children is not as bad as placing three bets because although a bet is compromising the integrity of their sport, abuse compromises the integrity of a person.