I'm not in any way soft on domestic abuse - it's a serious crime, and if guilty, he should be in prison, football player or not.

But it's not a crime against the sport. Punch a ref, or another player? Sell your teammates jerseys on eBay without their knowledge? Gamble on the sport? Take drugs that are banned by the league? Go into the stands on a rampage? These are all football crimes worthy of suspension.

Selling pot, beating your wife, and murdering hobos are not. They're for the regular justice system to address. And it's sufficiently hard to make it to games if you're incarcerated.