Detroit Lions trying to re-educate players about NFL gambling policy

After having an obvious problem there, the Detroit Lions are trying to circle back and re-educate about the NFL's gambling policy.

About a week before the draft started in April, the NFL announced five players were being suspended for violating the league's gambling policy. Four Detroit Lions were on that list, headlined by wide receiver Jameson Williams.

In addition to that news, ESPN reported the Lions had fired staff members across multiple departments due to violating the NFL's gambling policy. It was clear right then, and even if it was only players truly, the Lions had a problem regarding how they were educating people on the league's gambling policy.

In some ways, the rules of the NFL's gambling should be clear, obvious and largely common sense. Williams only avoided a year-long suspension because he didn't bet on the NFL. His plea of ignorance, essentially denying he even knew there were rules regarding gambling, rings hollow.

The day after Williams spoke to the media and said what he said, Kalyn Kahler of The Athletic reported a fifth player on the Lions' 2022 roster was being investigated for a possible gambling policy violation.

The player would not be named unless he's actually suspended. However, Kahler did deem it to be someone who was not a prominent player on last year's Lions' team. It's of course unclear if said player is still on the team.

Detroit Lions trying to re-educate on the NFL's gambling policy

The core of the Lions' issue with the NFL's gambling policy seemed to come down to this. They probably expected what should seem to be pretty clear to be clear regarding gambling rules, and common sense to grown adults. That expectation proved wrong to assume.

Head coach Dan Campbell, via Kyle Meinke of MLive, noted how the Lions are re-educating about the gambling policy.

"It’s much more an emphasis from us, as opposed to just leaving it to the league,” Campbell said. “Like, we need to make sure that we really hit this ourselves and make a point of it. We did, but obviously not enough. The proof’s in the pudding. So for us, let’s take it out of their hands. They will have what they do every year, but now we need to put our own emphasis on it. And I think that is the best way to do it, is to highlight it. And that is what we are trying to do.”"

Somewhere between what they're doing now and Williams' flimsy plea of complete ignorance about it, is where the Lions were previously in regard to educating about the NFL's gambling policy. Nothing can ever be 100 percent fail-safe on that though, on a team's end.

But if another player on the Lions draws attention from the league for gambling now, ignorance won't be able to be his attempted defense.