NEW YORK JETS COACH MILES AUSTIN SUSPENDED FOR GAMBLING
New York Jets wide receiver coach Miles Austin has been suspended for violating the league’s gambling policy for a minimum of one year, pending an appeal, the league announced on Friday.
The suspension is an indefinite suspension of at least one year. Austin, 38, is appealing the ruling and the league will have no further comment on the story until that appeal has been resolved. While there is no indication that Austin bet on NFL games, it’s reported that he did bet on other sports, which violates the NFL Personnel Gambling policy.
A statement from Miles Austin’s attorney William P. Deni Jr. read: “The NFL suspended Miles Austin for wagering from a legal mobile account on table games and non-NFL professional sports. Miles did not wager on any NFL game in violation of the Gambling Policy for NFL Personnel. He has been fully cooperative with the NFL’s investigation. He is appealing his suspension.”
While the Gambling Policy for NFL Personnel allows players to wager on other sports except for the NFL, it distinctly prohibits coaches from betting at all. Under the policy’s restrictions on legal gambling, “all NFL Personnel other than players are further prohibited from placing, soliciting or facilitating bets on any other professional, college, international, or Olympic sports competition, tournament or event.”
As per ESPN, the league has been investigating Austin for some time now and found out that the New Jersey-born assistant coach had been gambling on other sports – not on NFL games or college football. Austin had also been making online bets while at the team’s facility, which is also against the league’s “gambling in the workplace” restrictions.
Per the NFL’s Gambling Policy, “NFL Personnel shall not engage in any form of gambling while in any club or league setting including, without limitation, locker rooms, practice or office facilities, team buses, trains, flights, or hotels, or while traveling on club or league business.” The league allows playing cards or other casino-type games in these settings as long as nothing of value is wagered.
Austin did not coach on Thursday Night Football against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a game that the New York Jets wound up losing 19-3. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Austin has not been in the Jets’ facility since Tuesday.
A two-time Pro Bowl selection as a player, Austin played 10 seasons in the NFL primarily with the Dallas Cowboys, and was voted the 2009 Most Improved Player by the Pro Football Writers’ Association of America. Originally an undrafted free agent, he finished his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, registering 361 receptions over a decade-long playing career for 5,273 receiving yards and 37 touchdowns.
The news of Austin’s suspension has received some backlash from fans, citing hypocrisy from the league office due to the NFL’s “no-nonsense” stance on gambling cases compared to its “laid-back” stance on other disciplinary issues like sexual assault cases.
The New York Jets assistant coach is now the second high-profile suspension this year under the gambling policy. Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver, Calvin Ridley was suspended indefinitely through at least the conclusion of the 2022 season for betting on last season’s NFL games in March of this year.
Comparatively, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson had over two dozen sexual assault cases filed against him and only received an 11-game suspension. Watson’s suspension ended this month as he took the field on December 4th against his old team, the Houston Texans.
Fans on social media also quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of the NFL in suspending personnel when they indulge in gambling whilst the league is sponsored by gambling sites like Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, and FanDuel. “The news of the Miles Austin indefinite suspension for gambling on sports other than football was sponsored by DraftKings,” one fan sarcastically remarked.
Austin began his coaching career in 2019 as the San Francisco 49ers’ Offensive quality control coach and joined Robert Saleh’s staff in 2021. He will be required to serve any suspension before he can apply for reinstatement.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.