Fox's Ed Henry: NFL should give Ray Rice a second chance because other players beat their wives too

Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry argued on Thursday that former Ravens running back Ray Rice deserved a second chance after he was caught on video beating his wife because other players also beat their wives.

In a series of interviews this week, Rice admitted that some people would never forgive him for the video of him punching his wife, Janay, in an elevator and then dragging her by her hair. But he said that "over time, I want to be able to rewrite the script."

Henry told the hosts of Fox News' Outnumbered that he believed Rice deserved another shot as an NFL player.

"I'm not going to defend him," Henry insisted before offering a defense of the former Ravens player.

"He clearly was a wife beater at one point but I'm not going to judge him, whether he is for ever and ever," Henry said. "He made a mistake, obviously. Where I think he's been -- I don't want to say treated unfairly because, again, he's guilty and he should have faced this big penalty that he did."

"However, where he was treated unfairly is it got caught on tape," the Fox News correspondent continued. "And my point being, there are a lot of people in the NFL, unfortunately, who do the same thing. We didn't see the horrific video -- they get back on the field."

"But Ray Rice, because of that video -- which I want to be clear, horrific, never should have happened, he maybe should have gotten an even bigger penalty -- but because we saw that awful video, some people don't want to give him a second chance. Other people have done just as bad or worse and they're back on the field."

But co-host Sandra Smith wasn't buying Henry's logic.

"What kind of argument is that though? 'They did something bad and they got to play again,'" she said, mocking her guest.

"Then they should all be banned," Henry replied.

Watch the video below from Fox News' Outnumbered, broadcast Aug. 6, 2015.