ESPN NFL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- If Herm Edwards ran the NFL, the hammer would come down hard on players who get in trouble off the field.

"There needs to be a hard line, in my opinion," the Kansas City coach said Tuesday. "You can't throw softballs."

John Rieger/US PRESSWIREHerm Edwards feels professional athletes should not run away from the responsibility of being role models.

Edwards said he would support whatever punishment policy the league implements in upcoming discussions with the players union on off-the-field behavior problems.

But he also believes mere "wrist-slapping" fines are not the answer.

"I've never been a big proponent of fining players. Players, last time I checked, if they don't get to play, they understand that," he said. "If they don't get to play, that's what they understand. You don't dress. You don't play. Go home. You sit there and you watch.

"I just think eventually that's what it has to come to. I know that's hard."

Suspending top players would have even greater effect, he figures.

"[A player] needs to know if he can't conduct himself in the right way, then he's not going to play. That's where your leadership on your football team needs to come in, too. When you act like that, you don't play, and it hurts the team. If you get injured, that's one thing. But if you're a healthy guy and you're at home watching TV, then you can't even come on the trip.

"Now, that's just me talking. I don't know what we're going to do. But eventually it's going to get to that. It's going to have to, because that's the only thing they understand. They don't understand anything else."

Edwards also took sharp exception to anyone who says highly paid, high-profile athletes should not be expected to be role models.

"When you're a professional, you have an obligation to conduct yourself in a manner that's respectable to your organization and the people you work for," he said. "I don't care who you are. I don't care what job it is. I'm just saying a professional football player now.

"I try to live my life that way. Is it hard? Yeah. But so what? It should be hard. That's why you're a professional."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press