Reuben Foster fined two game checks, reinstated to active roster

Posted by Josh Alper on April 12, 2019, 4:14 PM EDT
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The domestic violence charges that led Washington linebacker Reuben Foster to be placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list last year were dropped in January and that led team president Bruce Allen to say that it was time for Foster to resume his playing career.

Allen got what he wanted on Friday. The NFL announced that Foster will be fined two game checks following a review of the November 2018 incident in Tampa that led the 49ers to release him, but will not be suspended during the 2019 season. They also announced he has been reinstated to Washington’s active roster.

The league’s statement also says Foster “has committed to a comprehensive accountability plan” put together by the league, the NFLPA and the team that is designed to “help him grow personally and avoid future misconduct.” If he does not avoid future misconduct, the league warns that he will face more substantial discipline as a result.

Foster was suspended two games at the start of last season and then appeared in six games for the 49ers before being cut loose. His last appearance came on October 28, but his next should be in Week One if all goes according to plan in Washington.

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12 responses to “Reuben Foster fined two game checks, reinstated to active roster”

  3. It took a long time but the NFL came to the right decision of no suspension. It’s refreshing to see the NFL not pretend to be better investigators than the actual professional police investigators who looked into it and determined there was nothing there.

  6. Doesn’t seem right that teams like Washington and Cleveland (Hunt) should benefit from adding these guys without some sore of penalty, when their original teams were publicly pressured by media and fans to part ways with them due to the charges. These guys are great players. It really hurts a team to have to walk away from someone like that with no compensation, only to watch them be picked up by another team who just shrugs and says “well, he’s good”. Maybe if a player is cut due to a legal issue, the next team that picks them up – within say a year- should have to give up a draft pick to the team who cut them for the integrity of the league.

  8. For all the emphasis the NFL puts on safety…shouldn’t they just suspend him two games? Why play the two games for free and risk getting hurt for nothing?

  9. stillabengalsfan – Those teams should have waited instead of giving in to media & fan pressure.

  10. stillabengalsfan says:
    April 12, 2019 at 4:38 pm
    Doesn’t seem right that teams like Washington and Cleveland (Hunt) should benefit from adding these guys without some sore of penalty, when their original teams were publicly pressured by media and fans to part ways with them due to the charges. These guys are great players. It really hurts a team to have to walk away from someone like that with no compensation, only to watch them be picked up by another team who just shrugs and says “well, he’s good”. Maybe if a player is cut due to a legal issue, the next team that picks them up – within say a year- should have to give up a draft pick to the team who cut them for the integrity of the league.

    ———————

    The teams don’t have to release the players. They can bear the pressure when it hits the same as the teams signing these guys do. No reason they should cave if the guy is productive either.

  12. This is one thing I don’t like about the NFL. Teams are trying to do the right thing by releasing players who do something that warrants that punishment but then another team signs them. And in this case, the punishment was hardly worth the Niners releasing Foster, but they had no way to know that at the time.
    I think if a team releases a player because of off the field problems, there should be a rule stating no one can sign that person until the outcome of his alleged mis-deeds is known. Then if he is found to be innocent or has the case thrown out, the team which released him should have the right to bring him back before he signs with anyone else.
    It’s the only fair way to do it, to me. As we saw with KC losing Kareem Hunt to the Browns and now the Redskins getting Foster after the Niners released him, the only loser in all of this is the team which releases them, and all they’re trying to do is protect the NFL’s brand.

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