According to The Athletic, another 2022 Detroit Lions player is being investigated for a possible violation of the NFL's gambling policy.
Back in April, less than a week before the draft started, four Detroit Lions players were suspended for violating the NFL's gambling policy. Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore were suspended indefinitely, while Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill received six-game bans. Cephus and Moore were released immediately, and Berryhill was eventually let go too.
Now, according to Kalyn Kahler of The Athletic, a fifth player from the 2022 Lions is being investigated for a possible violation of the NFL's gambling policy.
news! 🚨🚨 The NFL is investigating a fifth player on the 2022 Detroit Lions roster for a potential violation of the league’s gambling policy, per league sources.https://t.co/8Q35TSrIjU
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) May 26, 2023
The identity of the player was not revealed by Kahler, but she added he "was not a prominent member of the 2022 team." If a suspension is handed out by the league, the name of the player will come out.
The Detroit Lions had a systemic problem in relation to the NFL's gambling policy
While the plead of ignorance about the NFL's gambling policy Williams offered on Thursday doesn't quite sit right, it is clear the Lions had a problem related to the policy. Alongside the report of the first four suspended players, ESPN reported the Lions had fired staff members who violated the gambling policy.
Head coach Dan Campbell talked about the situation, in relation to Williams.
"Look, he knows. He's gotten it from everybody," Campbell said. "So, look, it happened. It's an emphasis on the league right now. It's a big thing, our players know. We've tried to hammer it home. Certainly, we did after that point and hit it two more times and we'll keep doing it"
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, reacting to Williams' aforementioned ignorance plea, called out the Lions for not sufficiently informing players about the league's gambling policy and/or the consequences for violating it.
"The proof is in the pari-mutuel pudding. It’s not a coincidence. The players didn’t know. Williams said he didn’t know. Which means that the Lions didn’t do a good enough job making sure they knew."
Campbell's comments hinted the Lions have, somewhat retroactively after the first run of suspensions, been really hammering home the league's gambling rules. That probably should have been done sooner, if it wasn't done. But the players themselves deserve a good dose of common sense accountability too, since pure ignorance is a flimsy defense.