So much for the new passion of sportsmanship.
The NFL failed its fans and players this week.
Jalen Carter apologizes to his teammates and fans for spitting on Dak Prescott and getting ejected
It also appears that, for some reason, the most powerful sports league on the planet allowed a player’s agent to impact a Week 1 decision with season-long ramifications.
NFL got it wrong by letting Jalen Carter play vs Chiefs
Jalen Carter should have been suspended for Week 2, missing a Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.
But this isn’t just about Carter getting off easy with a paltry $57,222 fine.
The Eagles defender is making $5.8 million this season, which makes $57k absurdly affordable.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott also should have been suspended for Week 2, especially since every indication is that the Cowboys’ $240m man was the first player to spit in the waterfall that preceded a Week 1 misfire for Jerry Jones’ team.“Sportsmanship is a critical topic, one where we saw during the duration of the season, not where we want to be professionally,” said Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, at the annual owners meetings in March.
“Some of the things we saw, we want to make sure the game’s always been about sportsmanship. We saw a couple actions like violent gestures up significantly, taunting up significantly.”
What happened to sportsmanship?
Backing up those hollow words, the NFL opened its new 2025 season on primetime TV with Prescott spitting toward the Eagles, and Carter spitting at the Cowboys.
Neither player was suspended, only Carter was ejected, and a supposed new NFL emphasis on sportsmanship was trashed before Week 2 was complete.
Pro Football Talk reported that Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was involved in discussions with the NFL and NFL Players Association about how Carter’s punishment would be handled.
Dak Prescott, left, and Jalen Carter both got off easy after Week 1Credit: talksport
Carter is 6ft 3in and 314lb but he spit at the Cowboys’ QBCredit: Getty
Fans thought that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held all the power, but apparently pro football is OK with allowing a player’s agent to help set a league-wide precedent.
Sure, the NFL ejected Carter before the first play from scrimmage between the Cowboys and Eagles.
But that had to happen, and the immediate question across the league and on social media was what ‘real’ punishment would follow — especially since sportsmanship was a ‘critical topic’ in 2025 and ‘taunting’ would no longer be tolerated.
Two players deserved suspensions
NBC’s TV broadcast showed Prescott spitting toward the ground.
“I guess I needed to spit. I wasn’t going to spit on my linemen. I just spit ahead,” Prescott said.
Every NFL fan on the globe was then forced to watch Carter spit back at Prescott.
“It was a mistake that happened on my side. It won’t happen again,” Carter said.
In childhood, that human error gets you scolded and grounded.
In a bar or pub, you would get punched in the face.
In the NFL, Carter sat out a game his team won, then lost $57k while making almost $6m a year.
And when the NFL spends Week 2 and Sunday afternoon promoting the heck out of a thrilling Super Bowl rematch featuring Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and potentially Taylor Swift, big No. 98 for the Eagles will be in the middle of the field.
Carter better not spit on Mahomes.
Then the NFL would actually have to do something and set a real precedent.
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