Im going to say something here that might push some of the wrong buttons, but I do want to pose the question. How many people actually saw the video that surfaced?
Watching the video, I saw him repeatedly back off as multiple people attacked him from many directions. I saw him swinging a belt in, what appears to be, a very aggressive attempt at self defense. Then it gets a little dirty. A woman walks up, gets in his face, and he seemingly swings the belt at her. Now this is where I might irritate people. I want to preface this by saying I in NO way condone hitting women. He's easily larger then her and it is not ok. With that being said... Lets look at this from another angle here. He was surrounded, by MULTIPLE PEOPLE ATTEMPTING TO DO HARM TO HIM. When that woman approached him, as a human, if I was in his position, I don't know what would be going through my mind.
He then hits her with that same belt twice, and he gets pulled away by what appears to be his buddy. Hitting her twice absolutely is not ok, but this is not a Ray Rice situation. There are other circumstances here that would absolutely influence his emotion, causing him to react irrationally.
At some point, do you reach a point where it goes from logical thinking, to self preservation?? I've been in situations where its come to throwing fists, and it's very easy to lose rational thought. Has he ever been accused of domestic violence? Any other instance that would give you any sort of belief that he felt hitting women was ok?
He messed up.. he has other things surrounding this event that are absolute question marks.... but the NFL didn't see fit to suspend him, the Saints are still paying him, and we signed a potential pro-bowl LB for $575K for this season. These are moves that we've looked at in the past and seen an organization pass on, and it bite us. Is it the right move? I dont know.... but the reward could be great...