The NFL Can’t Let Von Miller Play Amid Latest Arrest Warrant
Editors’ note: This story contains alleged accounts of domestic violence. If you or someone you know is a survivor of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or at https://www.thehotline.org/
The Bills are off this weekend. Von Miller should be off next weekend, too, and probably for a while after that. Dallas police have issued an arrest warrant for Miller for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend Wednesday. Miller deserves to be presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law, but he does not deserve to be on an NFL field.
The chilling part of this allegation is that it echoes a previous one. In 2021, Miller’s girlfriend posted on Instagram that when she was pregnant with Miller’s child, Miller texted that he was “honestly praying for a miscarriage” and “[F---ing] disappear!!!” and “I hate you!” and “you gon’ get yours! Believe that.” Miller subsequently said he had never physically assaulted her, and she later had another son with him. Thursday, Dallas news outlet WFAA reported that the current warrant involves Miller allegedly assaulting his “longtime girlfriend”; Sports Illustrated has not independently confirmed the identity of the woman, though The Dallas Morning News reports Miller and the woman have been in a romantic relationship for seven years. Also according to the Morning News, police said that during an argument, Miller yelled for the woman to “get out.” While she was gathering some of her belongings, she said that Miller shoved and pushed her when she repeatedly said, “Stop, I’m pregnant.” According to the affidavit, Miller continued to push her, pulled her hair, and put his hands on her neck and applied pressure multiple times.
Miller signed with the Bills in 2022 after playing nine full seasons in Denver, plus one season split between the Broncos and Rams.
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At some point, an NFL player loses the benefit of the doubt with his team and the league. Miller should be there now. If he is involved in any team activities moving forward, it’s only because of the star system (and since Miller has been a shadow of his Hall of Fame self on the field this season, maybe that won’t apply to him anymore, anyway).
If the Bills keep Miller around, what would they say to punter Matt Araiza? In 2022—just months after they signed Miller—the Bills cut Araiza, whom they had just drafted out of San Diego State, over an unproved gang-rape allegation in a lawsuit. Police later said Araiza was not present when the assault took place. This is the problem with viewing serious allegations as public relations crises. The outrage does not always align with the facts.
We do not know enough facts to say Miller is guilty of a crime. But the NFL’s personal conduct policy explicitly states on Page 1 that “it is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime in the court of law.” It also says, “Prohibited conduct includes but is not limited to … Actual or threatened physical violence against another person, including dating violence, domestic violence, child abuse and other forms of family violence.”
If those 2021 texts were indeed Miller’s, they come awfully close to threatening physical violence. The gap between “honestly praying for a miscarriage … you gon’ get yours!” and threatening physical violence is an inch wide—if there is a gap at all. (Miller responded at the time by posting about “Fake News. lol” on Instagram, which is certainly not how most people would respond to such a serious allegation.)
Miller was not suspended in 2021. Police investigated the incident, but he was not charged. At the time, he was a beloved Super Bowl 50 MVP; less than three years earlier, the Broncos had nominated him for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for his work providing children from low-income households with vision care and eye exams. He got the benefit of the doubt then. It would be outrageous to give it to him now.
A player can be placed on paid administrative leave when he is either charged with a felony or when an investigation “leads the Commissioner to believe that a player may have violated this Policy. … This decision will not reflect a finding of guilt or innocence and will not be guided by the same legal standards and considerations that would apply in a criminal trial.”
Players have often complained, with some justification, that the personal conduct policy gives commissioner Roger Goodell far too much discretion to mete out punishment. But this is an instance where Goodell should use it—and it’s a prime example of why he wants it.
Domestic violence cases are notoriously problematic for prosecutors. The people who were abused often do not want the trauma of a trial, especially when there are children involved, and they fear retribution from a partner. Decades of evidence shows that the legal system is ill-equipped to deal with these kinds of allegations.
The NFL does not need a guilty verdict to act. Neither do the Bills. The latest allegation changes the default assumption about Miller. The question is no longer whether he deserves to be suspended; it is whether he deserves to play. He does not.
