That was a good, rather long, read while being fair to both sides. The picture they used of Hill isn't exactly flattering for his case.
Here's a good snippett:
"ON DEC. 26, a few days after Hill made his first Pro Bowl as a return specialist, ProFootballTalk cited a source claiming that most NFL teams had taken him off their draft boards because of his record. That could be true, but Gilliland told me that representatives from all 32 teams visited his campus during Hill's year at West Alabama. Twenty of them showed up at his pro day, where they watched him run the 40-yard dash in 4.24 seconds.
Although NFL evaluators like to sprinkle their scouting reports with fleeting references to character issues,
it's undeniable that such concerns are inversely correlated with talent. It's why a star like Hardy found his way into the Cowboys' locker room after his sins were exposed but a third-stringer who makes a misstep will get tossed before most fans learn his name.
In the NFL, talent is currency; it buys tolerance and, in some cases, immunity. And Hill? He has a special talent. Whenever he touches the ball, the field crackles with electricity; he doesn't turn corners so much as he bounces around them, bending like a ray of light. He scored 12 touchdowns this season, tying the Chiefs' rookie record, and made the AP All-Pro team as a unanimous choice.
All of which is to say: He's not going anywhere...
Over the past two months, I've listened to my colleagues and peers struggle to talk about Hill. It feels wrong to praise him for his gifts while ignoring his flaws, but it also feels strange to intermingle talk of jet sweeps and screens with casual references to domestic violence. I co-host a fantasy football show, and I can't imagine working the subject into our usual conversation.
"Tyreek Hill is now averaging double-digit points on a weekly basis, making him a great flex option. And by the way: Two years ago, he pleaded guilty to domestic abuse by strangulation."
That doesn't seem right, or fair. But it would be equally unfair to wipe Hill's misdeeds from his record -- to pretend he can outrun his demons as swiftly as he shoots across our television screens. Hill's past is a permanent part of his story, and it should be mentioned every time his life and character are discussed. His efforts to redeem himself are also part of that story. Someday, they could become the most important part...
...(Ray)Rice sees Hill's case as an opportunity to shine more light on the issue. "Why not embrace the conversation and understand what happened here?"
It's a lofty challenge, and one that I suspect we -- Hill's teammates, his coaches, the media, fans -- will struggle to meet on most occasions. As his star rises, we'll try to wedge his rehabilitation into a narrative about his success on the field, as though yards after catch are a metric of personal growth. We'll minimize his crime by calling it "an incident," then "off-the-field trouble," then, as we do with stars such as Ben Roethlisberger, nothing at all. We'll say, as ESPN's own Brent Musberger did about Mixon during the Sugar Bowl, that we're rooting for him (without mentioning his victim). We'll get it wrong so many times.
But every now and then, we'll get it right, and when we do, it'll matter. Thousands of stories like Tyreek Hill's unfold every day, and they're never discussed on a national stage. But on a Sunday night in November, that's exactly what happened. For 30 seconds, Cris Collinsworth talked about domestic violence and made millions of people uncomfortable. And when the game resumed, that feeling remained."
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