Acknowledging that “domestic violence is a real issue in today’s society,” Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, reinstated to the NFL on Friday, wants his life back and a second chance to play professional football.
In an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, Rice lamented “one bad night” where he battered his wife prompting a suspension from the NFL. Rice told Lauer that he hopes an NFL team will “look deeper into who I am.”
Sources told ESPN that four teams have expressed interest in Rice, including the Colts and the Rams. However, so far no team has stepped up to give him that second chance.
All seem reluctant to bring on a player caught on video dragging his unconscious wife out of an elevator after he had attacked her. The video released in September caused a whirlwind of problems for Rice, his family, and the NFL.
The three-time Pro Bowler admitted to Lauer that he is “horribly sorry for everything that I have put my family through. We all just want our lives back.”
An NBC tweet posted on Bleacher Report quoted the running back:
An arbitrator recently overturned commissioner Roger Goodell’s indefinite suspension of Rice, freeing him to play again on the grounds that Goodell punished the former Raven twice for the same offense by amending his initial two-game ban.