The NFL has been full of news lately. Whether that is Antonio Brown being fined $54,000, Jared Goff singling a $134 million four year contract extension or Ezekiel Elliot’s $90 million 6 year contract, there’s plenty to talk about. Whether you think the fines and contracts are worth it or inexcusable, I am going to give my take on all three situations.

I’m going to start with Brown’s fine. Brown has been all over the media this summer. His trash talk of his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his complaints over a helmet have been seen.

What we were not going to see was the fine that was handed to him for missing camps. I really believe that Brown should shut his mouth while he’s ahead. The fines could have come a lot sooner for his comments on his former team or his comments over his helmet.

I think Goff’s extension is not the right timing. Goff is only going into his third year in the pros. In his two seasons he has made the playoffs both years and lost in the Super Bowl with the Rams last year.

There are currently two Super Bowl champions who went to a Super Bowl in their second season and won. Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger are those two, and they were not offered a deal like Goff. Goff’s contract is a huge push for the Rams, but it sends a message that they want him. The timing is awful and this extension could have waited.

Elliot’s contract came as a surprise to me. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones went through a similar situation in the ’90s with one of the greatest running backs of all-time, Emmitt Smith.

Elliot showed that he wasn’t worthy of the deal, in my opinion, when he threatened to not play when he’s under contract for two more years. Anybody who has followed Elliot’s career knows that the Cowboys have protected Elliot for charges outside of the NFL and have kept him on.

Elliot’s numbers are deserving of an extension, but the timing was forced. Elliot should have waited for it, but at the end of the day, he got what he wanted as he’s now the highest paid running back in the league. I believe, though, that Elliot is worth the $90 million spent by Jerry Jones.

Here’s what it comes down to. Put your personal opinions on any of the three listed above away. Elliot and Goff are certainly worthy of extensions. Brown should have been fined.

This year in the NFL will prove all three of these situations as deserving or not by the way these players perform on the gridiron.

Blake Faith is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at bmfaith@eiu.edu.