NFL = Not For Long

New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took a bold step by suspending serial idiots Adam ''Pacman'' Jones and Chris Henry for repeated run-ins with the law.
Jones, a Tennessee cornerback, will sit out the entire season, while Henry, a Cincinnati wide receiver, will miss eight games. After years of paying little more than lip service to the off-field thuggery of some of its employees, the NFL finally features a disciplinary policy with teeth. Players who keep a criminal attorney on constant retainer will get kicked where it really hurts -- in the wallet.
One of the few potential problems with the NFL's Get Tough measures is that Jones, Henry and other lawbreakers/headline-makers will sit idle. And, let's face it, do these guys really need more free time? They got in trouble in the first place for what they were doing off the field.
This is where their employers must step in. It's fine for the NFL to establish a clear disciplinary policy. But the league did so because of the disciplinary vacuum that existed at the lower level. Teams proved ineffective at policing their own members. For the most part, they were unwilling to do anything more than fine players because doing anything more could result in losing games.
The NFL must take steps to discipline those teams that are enablers. Two players arrested in one season? Fork over $500,000. Three players arrested in the same year? Sorry, you've just lost that third-round pick in the upcoming draft.
Measures like those would get the attention of owners and general managers intent on drafting the worst behaved athletes, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.