The domestic-violence and weapon arrest of San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster this week is still being reviewed by prosecutors, but victim advocates are closely watching how the team and NFL will handle the case to see whether the league has really turned a corner on addressing player violence against women.
The 49ers hold the dubious distinction of having the most player arrests in the league since 2012 — a total of 17, several of them involving domestic-violence allegations. Foster’s case is also one of the first to surface since the #MeToo movement heightened scrutiny of violence against women, putting new pressure on the NFL and other professional sports leagues to hold their players to a new standard.
Katherine Redmond, founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, said Foster’s arrest is going to be a stiff test for General Manager John Lynch and Coach Kyle Shanahan to make good on pledges to improve personal accountability on the team.
“John Lynch, no question, has to establish a better culture on that team and that organization,” said Redmond, who is also a gender-based violence prevention and response consultant for the New England Patriots. The 49ers have “been plagued with this issue and needs to do better. They need to establish a culture that is zero tolerance. Period.”
The #MeToo movement intensifies the spotlight on Foster, the team and the NFL, experts say.
“I think what (#MeToo) does is it puts more pressure on teams to say the right things and do some of the right things,” Redmond said. “And it also puts pressure on the systems that surround this team that are used to keep these victims quiet.”
The 49ers had no further comment as they continue to gather information and wait for the matter to unfold legally. Foster met with general manager Lynch and Shanahan on Monday and is cooperating with NFL personnel and law enforcement, according to a source.
Outside of being released from the 49ers, any other discipline of Foster would have to come through the NFL office under its personal-conduct policy. Unlike Foster, Tramaine Brock was cut within 24 hours after an April 2017 domestic-violence arrest which the 49ers apparently interpreted as more clear-cut than Foster’s.
Foster, like all rookies, was schooled last year on various aspects about NFL guidelines. The league mandates its teams cover 15 topics, including domestic violence and weapons possession. The 49ers are known to offer a more extensive program that doesn’t stop with that rookie orientation, as they also hold follow-up sessions with rookies and even second- and third-year players.
David Carter, a professor and executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, said in some cases it might even take more than that to ensure the lessons sink in.
“A lot of these athletes come through having been coddled and entitled, and they think, ‘It won’t happen to me,’ so the orientations can wash over like water off a duck’s back,” Carter said.
Foster was arrested Sunday morning in Los Gatos after his girlfriend called police following an argument. He was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, making criminal threats, and possession of an assault weapon, the latter count resulting from a home search that turned up a SIG Sauer 516 short-barreled rifle, according to law-enforcement sources.
Sources also said the girlfriend told officers that Foster physically dragged her after he first threw her belongings onto a front walkway and balcony.
The league has launched several public campaigns against domestic violence and fortified its personal-conduct policy after former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was suspended for two games for a 2014 assault on his then-fiancée, then was suspended indefinitely after security footage surfaced depicting the brutal attack.
That same year, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, and given a 10-game suspension from the NFL that was later reduced to four games by an arbitrator after Hardy appealed. He later played with the Dallas Cowboys.
In 2014, after the Rice case, the NFL granted Commissioner Roger Goodell authority to give players a baseline six-game suspension for domestic violence allegations, even without a conviction, with the discretion to decrease or lengthen based on the circumstances of a case. That was exercised with Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott this past season.
Carter said when it comes to sending an effective message against domestic violence, not only are moral obligations in play for the league, but significant business prospects as well.
“Right now the NFL is hypersensitive with anything dealing with player misconduct,” Carter said. “Not only does it harm the brand and reputation, it becomes an issue for trying to attract casual fans, particularly women. The team can’t be perceived of only doing what’s in their best interests competitively.”
And even then, Carter added, teams and the league should still expect push-back as they institute reforms.
“It’s hard to message it properly. When leagues are perceived as going too far, they’re seen as punishing people whether they’re guilty or not,” he said. “If they go too soft, advocacy groups say, ‘These rich, entitled athletes get away with so much.’ ”
Over the past few years, domestic-violence charges were filed against players who at the time were on the 49ers roster, including Bruce Miller, Ray McDonald and Tramaine Brock. Miller pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge, and the cases against McDonald and Brock were dropped because the reported victims declined to testify against them. An unwilling victim also led to a sexual-assault charge against Ahmad Brooks being reduced to battery.
To Redmond, those outcomes only contribute to why star athletes’ partners and spouses might be reluctant to report abuse, contending the deck is stacked against them and they stand to lose too much.
“The system to protect these victims is not doing its job. When you’re talking about a victim of an NFL player, there has to be something that makes them feel secure in making the report,” she said. “If it’s a spouse, victims think, ‘If I report him, and he loses his job, now what do I do?'”
The NFL’s personal-conduct policy outlines a protocol when a suspected violation like a domestic-violence arrest occurs, which includes offering a player a clinical evaluation, counseling and treatment, all paid for by the league. Similar resources are also offered to victims and families in the cases that involve domestic violence or child abuse, per league policy.
Redmond says that if the NFL is serious about curbing domestic violence and other kinds of abuse among its players, the league should also establish a victim-compensation fund to alleviate concerns about the potential loss of livelihood.
“If you want victims to come forward, we need to provide a safety net for them and their families who still need to be supported,” she said.
Protima Pandey, director of the Santa Clara County Office of Women’s Policy, said that even with well-intentioned responses to domestic violence, the broader culture must relieve victims of the burden of exposing the violence. She pointed out the dismissed domestic-violence cases involving the 49ers fizzled in large part due to lack of victim cooperation.
“There’s the element of power and control and the imbalance in a relationship,” she said. “In this case, you have a very powerful sports figure who has standing in society, is given pre-screened legitimacy. There are barriers we know about, and ones we can’t see.”
Getting past those barriers requires a “fundamental shift,” Pandey said.
“Stop asking why she does or doesn’t leave, or call the police, why the victim did not do anything or tell somebody. Start asking why do perpetrators think it is okay to hurt someone they love.”
