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Atlanta Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended for not less than the complete 2022 season for playing on N.F.L. video games final yr, one of many harshest penalties of its sort in league historical past.
Commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned in a press release on Monday that Ridley, 27, positioned bets on N.F.L. video games throughout a five-day interval in late November 2021 when he was away from the membership to deal with his psychological well being.
The league “uncovered no proof indicating any inside info was used or that any sport was compromised in any method,” Goodell mentioned within the assertion. “Nor was there proof suggesting any consciousness by coaches, workers, teammates or different gamers of his betting exercise.”
Nonetheless, Goodell mentioned, the “integrity of the sport” is prime to the league’s success, and Ridley put that integrity in danger.
Ridley introduced on Oct. 31, 2021, that he would step away from the workforce due to a psychological well being concern.
“These previous few weeks have been very difficult and as a lot as I’d wish to be on the sphere competing with my teammates, I must step away from soccer right now and deal with my psychological well-being,” Ridley mentioned in a press release posted to his social media accounts. “It will assist me be the perfect model of myself now and sooner or later.”
Ridley, a four-year veteran, had his finest N.F.L. season in 2020 when he caught 90 passes for 1,374 yards. Final season, he performed in simply 5 video games. The workforce exercised his fifth-year choice for the 2022 season final spring.
The Falcons mentioned in a press release that they first discovered of the league’s investigation on Feb. 9, and that they “help the league’s findings and actions.”
Ridley can enchantment his suspension inside three days and may ask to be reinstated on or after Feb. 15, 2023.
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