Former NFL executive says league has ignored domestic abuse claims for ...
The NFL ignored its domestic violence woes for decades, with hundreds of players dodging discipline as the league turned a blind eye to the abuse, a former NFL executive said.
'We knew it was wrong,' said Jerry Angelo, the Chicago Bears general manager from 2001-11. 'For whatever reason, it just kind of got glossed over.'
Angelo, who entered the NFL as a Dallas Cowboys scout in 1980, told USA Today that officials around the league didn't inquire too deeply when confronted with a player beating a wife, girlfriend or child.
Angelo said his typical approach was to ask 'is everybody OK? Yeah. How are they doing? Good. And then we'd just move on. We'd move on.'
Team officials instead routinely put winning ahead of decency, he told the newspaper.
'We got our priorities a little out of order,' said Angelo. 'Short of killing somebody, there is absolutely nothing worse than abusing a child or a woman. Nothing. And I think everybody understands that now much, much better.'
He estimated that 'hundreds and hundreds' of domestic abuse cases were mishandled that way during his 30 years in the NFL. The Bears treated their abusive player with the same kid gloves, he said.
'I made a mistake,' said Angelo. 'I was human. I was part of it. I'm not proud of it.'
Angelo didn't mention any players by name or offer any specifics about the incidents.
He said it was the infamous video of Ray Rice knocking his fiancée unconscious with a sucker punch that made him realize the severity of the problem.
'I had never seen video on domestic violence,' he said. 'I think that's what got everybody's attention.'
Rice was eventually suspended indefinitely and released by the Baltimore Ravens after his initial two-game penalty was greeted with widespread outrage.
Angelo said he believed that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wasn't covering anything up in regard to the incriminating Rice videotape - it only looked that way.
lmcshane@nydailynews.com
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