Yesterday, Maurice Clarett was ruled eligible for the NFL draft by the U.S. District Court in New York. Judge Shira Scheindlin said the policy of not allowing players be eligible for the draft until three years after their high school violation was a violation of federal anti trust laws. NFL lawyers soon announced that they would appeal the ruling, but an important statement has still been made.
Both the history of our country and professional sports backs the ruling the judge made. Although many people think of America’s antitrust laws as a defense for smaller businesses and citizens from large, harmful monopolies, these laws are also intended to protect employees from the consequences that a monopoly can have on prospective workers. These consequences include inadequate wages and, in the NFL’s case, barring potentially qualified workers based on one fact length of time spent out of high school. What the NFL is really saying is maturity, in their eyes, does not arrive until you are three years out of high school.
Clarett is 20 years old and is legally an adult. He can vote and serve his country in the military. If Clarett were 17 years old, the NFL might be able to claim their work environment – the football field – was unsafe for a child, but Clarett is not legally a child. In blocking Clarett and others like him, the NFL was using an invented and flimsy definition of maturity to deny him his right to apply for an NFL job.
This does not mean that Clarett is actually mature or even ready to challenge the NFL. This season’s various legal and NCAA problems are ample evidence of the fact that Clarett is not yet mature. Clarett showed poor judgement, at the very least, in lying about how much equipment was taken from a car that he probably should not have even been driving. Now, with the latest revelation that Clarett may have received gifts from a known gambler and a pattern of immaturity and disregard for both the law and NCAA regulations emerges.
Clarett’s off-field adventures have had on-field ramifications. Clarett may have tried to stay out of the public eye, but if he did, he’s done a poor job. It’s hard to believe any NFL team is going to want a player who has proven to be a major distraction to his team without even being in their locker room. Clarett has also shown a disinterest in actually working on his football skills during the ordeal, declining to participate in winter workouts even though the athletic department cleared him for it.
It should be up to each individual team to evaluate Clarett on both his physical and mental abilities and decide whether or not he’s ready for the NFL. Mel Kiper, Jr. said on ESPNNEWS Clarett would probably be a late first-round to second-round pick. Thanks to the court ruling, we may be able to see if this is true. The pressure is on Clarett now to prove his value to the NFL and finally shake off the controversy that has constantly dogged him.
