Ray Rice wants a job in the NFL. Thanks to all the Joe Mixon drama heading into today's draft, a perfect one is out there.
Before we get to that, though, here's why it's needed.
"A thorough background review of him, involving many elements of our organization, has been ongoing for the last few weeks. Obviously a great deal of our study was dedicated the issue of domestic violence."
That's what a sheepish coach or general manager will soon say as he explains why his team drafted Mixon. He will be parroting Jerry Jones, who said those words about serial bad guy Greg Hardy when the Cowboys signed him in 2015.
How'd that work out?
At last report, Hardy was getting busted for cocaine possession and was deemed too unsavory for a job in the Indoor Football League.
Now Mixon is on the Greg Hardy Clock. The Oklahoma running back might be a top-five pick if he hadn't punched a woman in the face a couple of years ago.
His big mistake, of course, was doing it in sight of a surveillance camera. When the video was finally released last December, Mixon went from risky to toxic for many NFL teams.
Some have decided he wouldn't be worth the public relations hassle. A few GMs say they simply could not look their wives and daughters in the eyes if they drafted Mixon.
That's apparently not an issue with the Bucs, who could take Mixon with the 19th overall pick. Whatever team drafts him, their version of Jerry Jones will trot out the usual lines.
We've done our homework. The kid deserves a second chance. We all make stupid mistakes.
It's true that kids make stupid mistakes, but most don't involve rearranging a coed's face.
That said, if Mixon is truly repentant and shows it in a meaningful way, I could eventually cheer for his redemption story.
I do that now for Rice, who has become a spokesman against domestic abuse since it got him drummed out of the NFL in 2014. He vowed to donate his entire salary last year to domestic violence programs if a team signed him.
None did, largely because Rice was approaching 30 and starting to creak. Mixon is a 20-year-old stud, so teams are far more sympathetic to his "mistake."
That mistake broke four bones in Amelia Molitor's face. She had eight hours of surgery, her jaw was wired shut and she had no feeling in the left side of her face for six months.
But right on cue, Molitor settled her civil lawsuit against Mixon last week. I'm glad she got paid, but her conciliatory statements read like lawyerly spin, as did Mixon's apology.
Funny how it took him more than two years to start sounding contrite. He says he's addressed his self-control issues. That'd be news to the parking attendant who wrote him a $40 ticket last fall.
Mixon tore it up and threw it in her face. At least no bones were broken.
All this has made Mixon the No. 1 Uncomfortable Story of the draft. The NFL could spare itself a lot of angst if it had a real policy to deal with these things.
It has the Rooney Rule, so why not add the Rice Rule?
Make every prospect who's been convicted of domestic violence sit out a year. Pay them a rookie salary, let them practice but require them to work with domestic abuse programs.
Have them do it under the mentorship of Rice, who understands the ramifications of his mistake and sincerely regrets it.
Does Mixon feel the same way?
Jerry Jones might say so, but I sure wouldn't take his word for it.
Sports on 04/27/2017