NFL Draft 2017: Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon deserves a second chance
By Ryan McNeill
The 2017 NFL Draft is approaching and teams are crossing Joe Mixon off the board already. Does he deserve a second chance?
The New England Patriots made headlines this week when news broke that they would not entertain the possibility of selecting Joe Mixon in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Everybody makes mistakes.
Some, like the one Joe Mixon made when he punched a woman in a club, are bigger than others.
Because Mixon hit a woman, some people feel that is a mistake that should follow Mixon the rest of his life. I fully understand that
I fully understand that the video is disturbing; each time I watch it, I flinch. I also think hitting a woman is one of the worst things any man can do. Mixon has been punished and vilified for his horrible choice. According to ESPN:
"“University officials were made aware of the content of the video prior to taking action with respect to Joe Mixon [in 2014],” the school said. “Based on that information, the university immediately suspended and removed Mr. Mixon from the football team for one year, during which high standards of conduct were expected and maintained.It was made clear to Mr. Mixon at the time of his suspension that violence against women will not go unpunished at the university. Coach [Bob] Stoops has been proactive in presenting training for his team aimed at preventing such behavior in the future.Sensitivity training in the area of violence has been intensified and best practices will continue to be implemented. Mr. Mixon has apologized for his actions, and the university hopes that it is an indication that he has learned from his mistakes. We are an educational institution, where we hope young people will learn from their mistakes and chart a better future course.”"
It’s not like anyone ignored this issue or that Mixon wasn’t punished. He was forced to miss his freshman season and he has undergone public scrutiny this past year for his horrible actions.
Mixon spent time this season talking with the media about why he regrets this decision and the ways he has grown since his mistake. He talked with ProFootballTalk about how he regrets his decision to hit the woman every day of his life.
"“I made a bad decision,” Mixon said. “Ever since that night I have to live with it. I’ve got to re-live it every day. You can never forget something like that. It still haunts me to this day, but it’s what you do from that point on. You can’t take it back. I can replay it in my head a thousand times, and if I could take it back I would, but I can’t.”"
We can argue if Mixon was punished enough or if he truly regrets this decision, but as of now, he has been punished by the school and he didn’t face jail time after he agreed to a plea bargain that involved 100 hours of community service.
He went through anger management counseling and seems to genuinely regret his actions.
Mixon also told ProFootballTalk that he’s “trying to educate youth throughout the community and having them learn from my mistakes.”
Why do we as a society feel the need to continually dish out punishment for mistakes? Why can’t someone serve their punishment, go through attempts to grow from the mistake and then move forward?
Also, why is Mixon the only victim if the girl he punched said racist comments and put her hands on Mixon first by trying to choke him? Again, I’m not saying Mixon’s actions were right, just that he isn’t the only guilty party in this horrible event.
While people can argue that Mixon is simply doing community service and saying the right things to the media because he wants to play in the NFL – something that is highly possibly – the reality is a young man is showing signs of doing everything he can to fix his mistake.
He also hasn’t made the same mistake since.
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Admitting his mistake and making every effort to fix that mistake is all that Mixon can do. Why isn’t that enough for some people and NFL teams?