I agree with SenorBeef, the NFL is kissing the butt of their free developmental system. That kind of precedent from the NFL will do more to stop top-tier college players taking illegal benefits than anything the NCAA would do. By, “more” I mean very little, but if an obvious future draftee knows he can’t skate free by jumping to the NFL if caught taking that wad of cash/diamond earrings/washer-dryer, there might be some hesitation.
Unlikely, but one can dream.
I’m not really sure why this is such a issue for you guys. The NFL simply wants to protect it’s public image and this falls comfortably under the “detrimental to the league” caveat. The league can suspend a player who tested positive for drugs, had a DUI or a criminal charge prior to their rookie year. It usually only happens when the offense occurs in the offseason after the Bowls, but that’s simply because under normal circumstances the players has already been punished by his college team when it happens before.
The NFL obviously considers violating NCAA rules to be more than a technicality now, which might have been different in the past, but what Pryor did is a lot different than what Harvey Unga did.
Yeah and I get all that, but in this instance Terrelle Pryor didn’t do anything illegal in the eyes of the law…just violated some NCAA rules. I guess what I am wondering is where the line gets drawn. I understand the NFL wants to protect its image because its a multi-billion dollar business, but this seems to start getting into that slippery slope category. Does the NBA have anything similar to this for college basketball players that take money from an agent or get found out after the fact that they cheated on their SAT’s or something?
That is a remarkably stupid ruling.
Not only is it just a bizarre thing for the NFL to play daddy to the NCAAs ruling, what the hell were chances in the first place that a raw QB taken now would ever have seen the field in the first 5 weeks anyway?
If they really wanted to punish him they would say he could only play in games for the first 5 weeks, no preseason, no practice, no development squad, no weight room, just the games 
Eagles get their asses handed to them.
The Bucs look horrible, as does Blount.
Vick throws three picks as the Eagles can’t stop the Steelers passing attack.
Tom Brady looks like Tom Brady.
Ahh preseason. If only we could learn anything real from these games.
I’m hoping the Bucs that squashed the Chiefs are the real ones.
Eagles fans are losing their minds tonight. It’s pretty funny. Literal sky-is-falling hysteria. I’m hoping this goes a long way to shutting up that stupidly overplayed “Dream Team” nonsense.
One person mentioned how the Eagles are the first team in history to be declared paper champions and lose the title before week one. Awesome.
Do you mean to tell me a team starting several rookies and multiple free agents, with a brand new defensive coordinator and line coaches, a brand new defensive scheme, and without their top two receivers for the entirety of training camp, got beaten by the Super Bowl runners up who brought back pretty much everyone? Well fuck me. Shocking! Inconceivable!
If this game is any indication, the Eagles collective fan base will literally collapse into itself and form a giant black hole of self-loathing and paranoia and pessimism when the Eagles start the season 0-3.
We can only hope.
Andre Johnson admitted that he accepted money from Nevin Shapiro yesterday. Will the NFL suspend him?
Did the NFL ever punish Reggie Bush?
No, although IIRC the league did suspend Jamal Lewis for stuff that happened before he was in the league.
Oof, the Panthers look inept tonight. I like what I see so far from Cam in turns of poise and arm. He seems to be making good decisions. He makes mistakes but he looks like he knows what he’s doing.
What was the incident that caused the suspension? I remember the cocaine distribution, but that was after he was in the league.
Really? Could you point me to the report? I’d be interested in that.
As far as has been reported in Houston, Johnson accepted drinks and access to the VIP section in some clubs. I hadn’t seen anything about cash changing hands (though it wouldn’t surprise me, either).
At least Shapiro didn’t buy another client out of it. Andre Johnson did the stupid thing and had an uncle as agent for years. It was only last year that he finally got a pro agent and a decent long term deal.
The prosecution and plea agreement was after Lewis was in the league, but the actual deal took place when he was in college.
It looks like Ryan Williams might miss the whole season for the Cardinals this year. This means the entire Cardinals running game is going to fall onto Beanie Wells. Not a good start for the Cardinals season.
Sorry, you’re right. It was just VIP access and drinks. I heard cash on the radio yesterday but apparently that’s not the case.
Here’s the original Yahoo! Sports story, in case anyone hasn’t seen it.
The Browns are way ahead of where I expected they’d be at this point. New coaching staff and a compressed offseason made me think they’d be a disaster for the first preseason game, but the offense has looked sharp and well oiled. It’s preseason so the coverages will be vanilla, but you can still read basic stuff into it - the offensive line’s performance is excellent, McCoy is right on target, and the receivers are running the right routes.
I was pretty cautious and skeptical towards McCoy last year but he’s winning me over. He’s got some more zip on his throws since his shoulder is more healed up - his arm is still a liability, but not as big of one. His accuracy has been dead on very consistently.
I was pretty sure a few weeks ago that we were looking at a hopeless 4-5 win season but I’m starting to think with no key injuries it’ll be more like 8 wins.
Btw, FoieGras, do you want to make some sort of bet about the result of the opening week game?
Sure, I’m game. What are we talking here? Some kind of signature line bet, a photo of me kissing a 400lb female Browns fan…???
Is there any other kind? 