The Longest NFL Suspensions Explained

Depending on how you view things, Art Folz (not actually pictured above) was either a scummy part of football's past or a criminal mastermind willing to do anything to win a game. As explained by The New York Times, Folz, who played multiple positions for the Chicago Cardinals, recruited four high school players to feature for the Milwaukee Badgers in a game scheduled for December 1925. At that time, clubs were allowed to alter their schedules through and past the holiday season, and Chicago needed a win to bolster the team's record in an attempt to get past the Pottsville Maroons in the standings. The Badgers required bodies for the game, and Folz convinced the amateur athletes they were participating in a practice exhibition.

Unsurprisingly, Chicago routed Milwaukee to the tune of 59-0, but then-league president Joseph Carr wasn't amused by Folz's stunt. The NFL banned Folz for life, and Badgers owner Ambrose McGuirk was forced to sell his franchise. According to the Times, the Badgers folded after the 1926 regular season. Per Pro Football Researchers, Folz's suspension was eventually lifted, but he never again played in a professional game. While the high school players were initially punished, they were eventually forgiven by the young league.

Football is an undeniably physical and hard-hitting competition. Injuries are unavoidable in a contact game where 300-pound men crash into each other. As a result, football has evolved across generations, in part to protect itself and to ensure the safety of athletes. And as much as stations such as CBS, Fox, and ESPN show crunching hits and blows in highlight-reel packages, the NFL doesn't want players or coaches actively targeting opponents with intent to injure. In fact, if the league catches you plotting to take someone down, that's a good way to wind up suspended.

For example, according to ESPN, the NFL accused then-New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams of running a "bounty system" that involved paying defensive players who inflicted injuries upon opposing offensive stars such as Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. As explained by CNN, Williams was caught on tape naming San Francisco 49ers players worth targeting ahead of a playoff game between the Niners and Saints in January 2012.

Following a league investigation into the matter, the NFL suspended Williams for the entire 2012 campaign, including the playoffs. He was reinstated in February 2013, however, and he became a journeyman assistant. He even enjoyed a brief stint as interim head coach of the Cleveland Browns during the 2018 season. Under Williams, the Browns won five of eight contests, and he ended the decade as a coordinator with the New York Jets.

Former New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma may be the most fascinating case to emerge from the "Bountygate" scandal. As reported by multiple outlets, including CBS Sports, Vilma allegedly offered teammates $10,000 to knock Brett Favre out of a game versus the Saints in January 2010. In May 2012, the NFL suspended Vilma for all of that fall's season, including the playoffs. Scott Fujita, Will Smith, and Anthony Hargrove were also banned, but they were eligible to play later that fall.

Vilma didn't take this punishment lightly. In September 2012, a collective bargaining agreement appeals panel vetoed the suspensions of all four New Orleans players. That October, however, Roger Goodell reissued his original punishments. The saga played out through December when former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue officially overturned Goodell's ruling.

Meanwhile, Vilma filed a defamation lawsuit against Goodell, although it was dismissed in January 2013. Vilma played in 11 contests during the 2012 campaign. Knee problems kept him off the field for 15 of 16 outings in 2013, though, and that one appearance was his last as a pro player. In December 2015, he officially retired from the NFL. The Saints inducted the defensive star into the team's Hall of Fame in October 2017.

From 2002 through the 2008 season, wide receiver Donté Stallworth played for four different teams. He earned All-Rookie honors as a member of the New Orleans Saints, and he was on the 2007 New England Patriots roster that won all 16 regular-season games but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. Stallworth had three catches for 34 yards in that championship contest.

But after a rather forgettable 11 appearances with the Cleveland Browns in 2008, Stallworth accidentally struck and killed a pedestrian while driving his Bentley in March 2009. As ESPN's Jeffri Chadiha wrote, Stallworth's blood alcohol level registered well above the legal limit, and he received a 30-day prison sentence, community service, eight years of probation, and the lifetime suspension of his driver's license.

Roger Goodell suspended Stallworth for the entire 2009 season, and Stallworth didn't play a down that year. However, in February 2010, Goodell reinstated Stallworth, and the wideout remained an active player for another three seasons. Following his retirement from the league, Stallworth embarked on a career in media. He completed an internship with The Huffington Post, and he's also analyzed NFL stories and situations during fall months.

Officials running competitions such as the NFL, MLB, and NBA couldn't clearer about the fact that they don't want their athletes betting on games that occur under their jurisdictions. Football players wagering on pro football isn't just a bad look for the NFL. Such actions lead to questions about whether or not athletes can become susceptible to accepting bribes.

This is no secret to players, and that's why it was so surprising to learn that Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw was suspended for at least the entire 2020 season after the NFL learned he wagered on multiple league contests in 2019. As ESPN's David Purdum reported, Shaw bet against the Cardinals, his employer, at least once. Per Purdum, the NFL caught Shaw because he listed "professional football player" as his occupation when he registered with Las Vegas sportsbook Caesars Entertainment. Shaw's actions led observers to believe that he either was completely unaware of how to bet anonymously or that he lost interest in playing for any NFL organization past the end of the decade.

The Cardinals placed Shaw on injured reserve in August 2019, but he was still signed by the team at the time he placed his bets and violated NFL rules.

About five years after he retires from playing in the NFL, running back Adrian Peterson will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In other words, the man is beloved. In fact, by the fall of 2019, what became a 15-game suspension from the league warranted no mention from commentators during games in which Peterson starred in the backfield. The public quickly forgave "All Day."

However, that wasn't the case in September 2014 when Peterson was indicted on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child after he used a switch to punish his son, who was four years old at the time. Peterson had played a single game for the Minnesota Vikings that month when the Vikings deactivated him and placed him on the NFL's Exempt/Commissioner's Permission list, and he remained essentially banned until he accepted a plea deal in November.

Roger Goodell didn't let Peterson return to the Minnesota lineup, though, as the commissioner suspended the running back without pay through the remainder of the campaign. Peterson spent about eight months as persona non grata until the league reinstated him in April 2015. But after that, he was chosen for the Pro Bowl and named First-Team All-Pro after he led the league in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, and rushing yards per game that season. But despite his achievements, Peterson is proof that even respected athletes can do terrible things.

The belief among so-called experts is that if your team holds an insurmountable lead during a game, you shouldn't engage in a physical altercation with an opponent under any circumstances. After all, there's nothing to be gained, since you're the one with more points on the scoreboard.

However, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett didn't get the memo about this matter. On November 14, 2019, the Browns held a 21-7 advantage over division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers with seconds left on the clock, and that's when Garrett found himself involved in a tussle with Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph. Garrett ripped Rudolph's helmet off and then smashed the QB with his own headgear. The NFL responded swiftly by suspending Garrett indefinitely the next day, a punishment that ended Garrett's season and put the future of his career in question.

While Garrett initially apologized for what former coach and television analyst Rex Ryan called an "assault," the player later claimed he was a victim of a racial slur. Rudolph vehemently denied that accusation, and the NFL upheld Garrett's indefinite suspension. Throughout that November, sports talk personalities and fans wondered if the NFL should and would ban Garrett for life for what could be considered a criminal act. One can't help but believe an NFL "death penalty" would've been on the table had Garrett seriously injured Rudolph or if the pass-rusher had attacked a future Hall of Famer such as Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers.