Aaron Donald should be suspended like Myles Garrett but the two situations aren’t the same

Aaron Donald should be suspended like Myles Garrett.

By now everyone has seen it, and it’s been talked to death but there’s a lot that’s not being said that needs to be said when it comes to the Aaron Donald incident and the comparisons it’s been drawing to Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns. For those who don’t know, good morning and we’re glad you’re no longer in a coma, but Donald got into a scrum at a joint Los Angeles Rams and Cinncinati Bengals practice.

Donald at some point in the scrum got ahold of a Bengals helmet (possibly even two) and started swinging it wildly at players before getting dropped to the ground. It’s reprehensible and there’s no excuse for it. Donald should be suspended for as long, if not longer than Garrett was. The only problem is that the NFL, apparently, has no ability to suspend players for conduct at practices.

I think that’s trash, but that seems to be the rule. So it seems unlikely he’ll be suspended because Lord knows the Rams aren’t going to do anything about it. All that said, Garrett and Donald’s situations are similar in only the most surface-level definition.

There are considerable differences between the Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett incidents

Firstly, visibility. Garrett had HD cameras in his face as he ripped off the helmet of Mason Rudolph, and struck him in the head with it. Donald’s assault, and it was, happened in the middle of a pile with a lot of obstructions blocking the situation. It’s hard to see the details of the incident, namely point number two.

Point two, Garrett hit a defensive player, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, with a blunt object. I ask this question because I honestly could not tell, did Donald hit anyone not wearing a helmet? I can’t tell, and I’ve only seen that one video that everyone else has seen. It doesn’t change the intent, Donald committed an act of assault, but it does change the perception. Hitting a player in the head with a helmet, while wearing the helmet, is not the same thing as hitting a man square on the head, without protection.

Thirdly, this happened in a private situation, and not on Monday Night Football where even the most casual sports fans could see. That’s going to affect the outrage around this as only die-hard fans, who follow preseason updates on social media, are going to see this. You’re talking, at best, a few hundred thousand people who care enough about preseason football to know this happened. As opposed to millions upon millions of people in prime time and of course right after.

Now, there are a lot of differences, but they aren’t all against Garrett and the Browns. The outrage not being as high is very obvious, and it has nothing to do with the player or the team. Anyone who thinks Garrett got punished because he’s a Browns player is delusional. He got punished because his act of violence was clear, in front of millions of people, and was against an obviously smaller and more defenseless person.

That said, Donald was far more egregious with his assault. Garrett ripped the helmet off of Rudolph and smacked the stuffing out of him with it in almost one fluid motion. Not great. Donald, on the other hand, can be seen striking one (if not more) player with a helmet(s) repeatedly. There were at least three, but maybe four strikes that we can see. Donald didn’t just lose his temper, he threw his temperament out the window and went full ham hawk on some dude’s dome.

So in conclusion, no, Garrett didn’t get punished because he was a Browns player, he was punished because of the time, place, and person he assaulted. Donald’s outrage isn’t due to him being a Ram but due to how hard it is to clearly see what happened. Lastly and most importantly, Donald’s act was in fact more severe than Garretts and it warrants a suspension, in spite of what the NFL can and can’t do.