A Legal Proceeding To Watch For…

A little more than a month ago, the Tennessee Titans traded for Julio Jones.  The price the Titans paid for a top shelf WR seemed awfully meager at the time even considering that Jones is 32 years old which for most WRs means that he is likely on the downside of his career.  To refresh your memory, here are the details of that trade:

• Titans get Julio Jones plus a 2023 6^th round pick
• Falcons get a 2022 2^nd round pick plus a 2023 4^th round pick.

Jones only played in 9 games last season, but his career numbers are eye-opening.  He has been in the NFL for 10 seasons and has been selected for the Pro bowl 7 times and has been a first team All-Pro twice.  Jones has led the NFL in receiving yards twice and has led the league in yards per touch three times.  The more I looked at the stats, the more I thought the Titans got a great deal here – – absent the injury bug of course.

Then last week, a story broke that might cast a pall over the trade.  Julio Jones and former NFL WR, Roddy White, are partners in a non-football business venture and the two of them are being sued by a company called Genetixs LLC.  The fact of the lawsuit is not of imminent concern; it is the allegation made by the plaintiff that caused me to react:

• The folks who run Genetixs LLC accuse Jones and White of diverting “cannabis products from an otherwise legal cultivation and distribution operation in order to make black-market sales.”
• The suit goes on to assert that Jones and White – – and presumably others – – have sold about $12M worth of “black market cannabis” since March 2021 and have been involved in money-laundering practices to cover the tracks of that revenue stream.

I think  you will agree; that is not your garden-variety civil lawsuit.  I think you will also agree that it is not surprising that legal council for Jones and White says that the claims made in the lawsuit are without merit.  Given the pace of lawsuits through the courts, I would say that there is about zero probability that this case might be heard anytime during this year’s NFL season – – and maybe not even next year’s NFL season.  As far as I can tell, we have not yet even had the pro forma motion by counsel for Jones and White to dismiss the case  without even a hearing because it is baseless and frivolous.

What does present a potential problem is the illegal nature of the actions alleged to have been undertaken by Jones and White.

• Marijuana laws – and cannabis laws – have changed dramatically in the last several years.  But I do not recall reading that  “black market sales” and “money laundering” have been made legally acceptable in any jurisdictions.
• That nexus could bring the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy into play here.  For better or worse, the NFL has more than a little precedent for handing down punishments to players in matters where no criminal charges were ever filed let alone situations where players were convicted of wrongdoing.

As I said, I have no expectation that this case or any police investigation into matters alleged by the plaintiffs in this case will materialize during this NFL season.  However, Jones’ current contract has him being paid $38.3M through the end of the 2023 season.  This is obviously not something the Titans anticipated as they negotiated the trade to acquire Julio Jones.

Moving on … In yesterday’s Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone wrote a column urging the NFL – and all sports leagues including the NCAA – to lead by example and require COVID vaccinations for all players and fans and – – you get the idea.  You can read this wide-ranging column here.

I have no problem with the thrust of Blackistone’s piece; this is not an example of some sort of corporate conspiracy to take over the hearts and minds of everyday Americans.  Taking his encouragement to some sort of end point, what it would do would be to create a situation whereby adults – – players and coaches and referees – – could make a choice about whether they want to be part of the NFL or not.  The NFL is not an entity that would be covered by some sort of Constitutional guarantee; employment by the NFL is not a God-given right nor was it allegorically mentioned in the US Constitution back in 1789.

The second step in reaching a logical endpoint from the column would be that fans would then get to choose whether they want to take in an NFL game in person or not.  Admission to an NFL game is a privilege that one purchases; it is not something guaranteed to every person in the country.

There are two significant barriers to consider regarding why the NFL might not want to be at the sharp end of this “movement”:

1. There might be an attrition of some players from the league but that is probably a minimal problem since there are plenty of people who will gladly step in and take the NFL’s minimum salary for rookies who never played a down in the NFL – – $660K for 17 games.  A much bigger hesitancy comes from the potential for an immediate loss of revenue from fans who would stay away and the unknown factor of how those fans might be willing to “return to the fold” once COVID is but a dark memory.  NFL owners do not like to mess around with their revenue streams.
2. The second barrier is one that I wish Blackistone had acknowledged and analyzed.  That barrier is the NFLPA.  Somehow, I doubt that the union would just sit back and nod their heads in agreement as about 100 of its dues paying members were kicked to the curb as a consequence of choosing not to be vaccinated.  Even if the Commish and the owners thought they would win in the end, does it make sense for them to stir up a controversy with the union – and with fans who might side with the players on this issue – when they do not have to?

Finally, since much of my tone today was pessimistic, let me close with this observation by the French scientist, Jean Rostand:

“My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………