Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Latest NFL Discipline Policies Are Working

1. The NFL gets Aaron Kromer suspension right

The Ray Rice case...not the NFL's greatest moment.

Deflategate...got a lot right, and some wrong.

But there are several cases where the NFL's new polices worked perfectly. First, the Greg Hardy case. Now, the Aaron Kromer case. We will see this again in the case of the Jets player-turned-alleged drag racer/police evader. More on that in a moment.

The NFL suspended Kromer, a Bills assistant coach, the first six games of this season. Where the suspension gets interesting is that the more serious charges of battery were dropped by law enforcement. Remember, Kromer was accused of punching a boy in the face and threatening to kill his family. Reportedly all over an argument involving beach chairs.

What the NFL did, a league source explained, was utilize its new protocols, where the NFL uses basically its own investigative force. It doesn't rely on the legal system to make its determination.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press/Associated Press

I know that technically the Bills suspended Kromer but let's not be naive. The NFL took the lead on this. The Bills followed it. This was an NFL move all the way, not the Bills.

This is a tricky maneuver. If law enforcement doesn't see fit to charge Kromer, why would the NFL want to go further? The reason goes back to Rice. Remember the NFL's initial two-game suspension of Rice. Then came the ugly video.

The league said it was unaware of the inside-the-elevator video (though arguably it didn't need that video to figure out what happened). The optics of that were so bad, the league knew it needed to change how it approached these situations.

The Hardy case was the first example of how these new protocols work well. The Kromer case is the second. I'm told the league spoke to witnesses and reviewed all of the pertinent documents. The results of its investigation were provided to the Bills, and the Bills agreed Kromer needed to be heavily punished, I'm told.

This is the same process the league is undertaking with the Jets' Sheldon Richardson. My guess is Richardson will face heavy punishment from the league once its investigatory team is done with its deep dive.

The NFL has royally screwed up some of these cases in the past. But on Hardy, and now on Kromer, the league got it right.

2. Well, um, OK then

The Vikings used Adrian Peterson to promote the team's Family Day. Which is, well, highly interesting.

Not that Peterson should forever be punished for what he did. Or that he cannot be a good father.

But the Vikings couldn't find another father to use as an example? One that didn't do this to his son?

3. Dez Bryant 'fight'

I've heard some people say the Dez Bryant fight at camp recently is Dez being Dez. That the fight is a negative. Which is laughable.

First, this wasn't really a fight. I've covered training camps where players got in real fights, and guys walked away bloodied. This was more like a fracas. A dust-up. A kerfuffle. A tizzy. (Here's the aftermath video from the Star-Telegram.)

Second, we already knew Bryant was volatile on the field. This is not always a bad thing. He demonstrates passion, and that's good. The true concern is off the field. This is where volatility isn't a good thing.

But that "fight"? Not even close to anything significant. Calm down, people.

4. Insanity

According to the great MMQB site, 500 people applied to work for the Washington media relations staff during training camp. For free. That's 500 applications. To work. For free.

I'll just let that sit there for a moment.

5. Cowboys cheerleaders re-enact Dez Bryant catch/non-catch

Smart concept and kinda funny. Good to see teams not take themselves so seriously.

6. Seahawks front office masterful. However...

They got Russell Wilson's contract done. That is good. That is great. Especially since I believe Wilson is a top-five quarterback. I said it. Top five. Go ahead and mock me the way my friend Pete Prisco does.

They got other contracts done. It was a superb job. But there is one problem. A big one.

As Peter King points out, the Seahawks have nearly $100 million in cap space tied up with 10 players. Ten.

Seattle has taken care of the right players. The problem is, because it has spent so much money on those players, there's little money to pay anyone else.

What all of this means is this Seattle team will see drastic changes in the next few years. It won't be able to afford to keep a lot of its core guys. That's the bad news.

The good news is the Seahawks front-office members are so talented, they'll draft more core guys. That's what they do.

7. Agent book is brilliant read

I've known agent Ralph Cindrich for decades and always found him one of the most compelling figures I ever knew. I just read his book, NFL Brawler: A Player-Turned-Agent's Forty Years in the Bloody Trenches of the National Football League, and it's equally fascinating. It's almost like a trip through NFL history. My favorite story: the drinking contest he had with Colts owner Bob Irsay.

8. A beautiful catch...

This one by the Raiders' Brice Butler. It's the kind of athleticism that is displayed in camps all across football. Players make these plays look so ordinary; they remain examples of athleticism that many of us watching take for granted.

9.  ...and beautiful footwork.

This is one of many reasons why Amari Cooper is going to be good. Really good.

10. Last word on Deflategate

So, yes, Chris Mortensen was wrong about the PSI of the Patriots' footballs. And yes, Patriots fans have every right to criticize him. But a few words on this topic.

First: What has been disturbing to me is the number of media (especially in Boston) who have piled onto Mort. Like none of you ever made a mistake. I've made many. You stay in this business long enough, that's what will happen. Even massive mistakes can be made. Every seasoned journalist knows this. To act like you don't make mistakes, or that this couldn't happen to you, is disingenuous at best.

Second: Mort's source, or sources, lied to him. This is also not wholly uncommon. It's not an excuse. It's a fact. Should Mort have been more skeptical or more probing? Sure. But I can tell you, if almost anyone in the media got a call from a credible source in the league office saying 11 of the 12 footballs were below PSI, almost anyone in the media would have utilized that information. Used it with more skepticism? Yes. But utilized it. This is another thing the media criticizing Mort won't admit.

Bob Levey/Getty Images

Third: I know exactly what was at work in Mort's thinking on this story, and that's the Patriots' past. Spygate is a factor in all of this. My guess is Mort heard the info and figured: The Pats cheated in the past and probably did again. That is not an unfair way to approach this story.

Fourth: The notion that Mort was the catalyst for this story blowing up is one of the most ridiculous aspects of all of this. Mort's story didn't push me to pursue Deflategate. Bob Kravitz's original report did. Even bigger was the name Tom Brady.

Any cheating story involving the best quarterback of all time was going to go atomic. 

Fifth: Mort did need to explain himself. My Catholic upbringing would rack me with guilt, and I'd apologize. Mort didn't need to go that far, but he did finally give some explanation.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.