On the Curse of Maurice Clarett

The United States Army officially notified Caleb Campbell, recent West Point graduate, on Wednesday that he would not be allowed to pursue a career in professional football without first fulfilling his obligations to the Army in a “full-time, traditional” manner. This mandate came shortly after the Department of Defense overruled the Army’s long-standing policy that permitted West Point graduates capable of playing professional sports to fulfill their obligations to the Army as recruiters if they were to make an active roster.

The policy change came a day before Campbell, a seventh-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions this year, was to report to Lions training camp and a day after Campbell reportedly agreed to a three-year contract with the Lions, though he had yet to sign it. A number of commentators have argued that the timing of change in the rule is the problematic issue in that it’s cruelly unfair to Campbell. I agree that if the military was in the business of fairness and comity, it will have undermined the credibility of its dealings in either.

However, beyond fairness, the timing of the rule change could be legally problematic, and he ought to be grandfathered in under the previous rule, an open contract Campbell could agree to. The Detroit Lions undertook costly actions to secure the rights to Campbell’s labor: they scouted him, exhausted one of their limited draft picks, and earmarked a portion of their similarly limited “rookie pool” salary to allot to Campbell in arranging a three-year contract, to which he reportedly verbally agreed. None of those would have happened had the Army’s long-standing policy not been in place.

Campbell and the Lions could plausibly fight this issue in court. Sadly, the Lions and Campbell likely won’t because Campbell isn’t a top prospect. The likelihood that he would have made the team is uncertain in the first place. To the Lions, Campbell’s value may not be worth much more than some undrafted rookie safety, whose talents wouldn’t come with the cost of legal fees and the possible public condemnation for interfering with military operations during a period of war. Out of deference to and a fear of affronting an employer he clearly respects, Campbell will doubtfully challenge the Defense Department’s mandate.

Or perhaps Campbell recalls the gloriously catastrophic career of Maurice Clarett and the result of his attempt to sue for the right to play in the NFL. And anyone in his right mind would take a promising career as a military officer over what Clarett has become.