After a new TMZ video surfaced Monday showing Ray Rice assaulting now-wife, Janay, the Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of the troubled running back.
NFL commisoner, Roger Goodell also announced that Rice is suspended indefinitely for the league.
Finding themselves in a difficult situation with the video from the incident inside the elevator leaked with Rice hitting his wife. The Ravens had to cut Rice and not turn back.
Both the NFL public relations department and that of the Ravens took a hit dramatically since day one. From the Ravens official Twitter account, to the lack aggressiveness from the organization to react quickly in some circumstances.
However, it would be very petty for people go around saying, “It’s too late. The Ravens didn’t react enough to the Rice situation.”
It is never too late. Instead of whining about when the Ravens decided to make a move, people focused on the move itself. While the Ravens stuck with Rice throughout the entire situation, players in the locker room had different opinions.
According to Mike Freeman of the Bleacher Report, he spoke to a player on the Ravens roster who is saying that Rice is losing support in the locker room.
“I don’t think he has very much support now at all,” the player texted. “I think it’s gone.” via Bleacher Report.
The Ravens needed to take a bigger stand in the first place with Rice. And with players in the locker walking away from Rice, the team couldn’t afford to have that kind of distraction going forward. The Ravens needed to move on, and cutting Rice was a step in the right direction.
Cutting Rice creates a 9.5 million dollar cap hit for the Ravens entering the 2015 season. The Ravens are currently limited in cap space at the moment as the Ravens have under five million dollars in cap space to work with.
The Ravens can’t afford for this topic to be a black cloud over the organization’s head over the course of the season.
Cutting Rice as soon as possible may have lifted such an ominous albatross as Rice, sending a message such as this provides a much-needed ray of light.