NFL would target offensive on-field language with 15-yard penalty

The ever image-conscious NFL is taking its fight for diversity and respect on the field to a whole new level. It’s considering a 15-yard penalty against players who use discriminatory language on the field.

While the NFL is thinking about flagging players for any discriminatory language, it is really going after one word in particular.

You can guess what it is: the N-word.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is on the competition committee and said they have been talking about it.

“We did discuss it over the last three days,” he told reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “With any rule that we put into play, we have to look at it from A to Z and find out what are the unintended consequences as much as the consequences.”

One of the unintended consequences is Freedom of Speech. Many players have already come out to say this penalty would violate the players’ constitutionally-recognized freedoms.

EPSN analyst Jason Whitlock said you can’t find a more racist symbol than the N-word, and he believes the use of it is wrong, whether it’s being used by white or black players.

“It’s the most powerful, it’s the longest standing, and it still stands today and it’s embraced by the very people who it was intended to destroy and that’s what’s sad. I’m glad the NFL is taking this stand,” Whitlock said on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

Columnist and ESPN analyst Michael Wilbon said he doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

“I understand the need to look at it. I’m not sure it can be legislated successfully.”

When asked why, Wilbon said, “Because the use of this particular word, the objection to it, the embracing of it, the emotion wrapped around it is more complex than any word that I can think of in the English language.”

The competition committee is also considering what other kinds of language would garner a 15-yard penalty, including homophobic slurs.

The rule might also include stepped up penalties for continued use of the word, including ejections.