Pac-Man could be suspended for the entire season...

[BACH]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/don_banks/03/20/nfl.discipline/index.html

Time to get tough
NFL may take swift action, suspend Pacman
Posted: Tuesday March 20, 2007 12:40PM; Updated: Tuesday March 20, 2007 12:40PM


Pacman Jones has been involved in 10 incidents where he was either arrested or interviewed by police since Tennessee selected him sixth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft.

The NFL may soon hand down the kind of decision that could highlight Roger Goodell's brief reign as commissioner and put the spotlight squarely on his efforts to strengthen the league's personal conduct policy. Sources within the league office say the NFL is likely to set an example with its punishment of troubled Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman'' Jones, suspending him even before the legal process from a Las Vegas strip club brawl in February is complete. The suspension could wipe out his entire 2007 season.

In close collaboration with the NFL Players Association, Goodell is spearheading a drive to increase the league sanctions that can be levied against a player who runs afoul of the law. Owners are expected to adopt stricter punishment levels next week at the NFL's annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- a move brought on by the arrests of more than 50 NFL players since the start of 2006.

Jones has emerged as the poster child for the league's litany of off-field player conduct issues, with a record of 10 incidents where he was either arrested or interviewed by police since Tennessee selected him sixth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. According to a source in the league office, the NFL doesn't have to wait to see if Jones is ultimately charged for having any role in the Las Vegas strip club triple-shooting that left one man paralyzed. Jones is already subject to league suspension for not telling the Titans about a pair of 2006 arrests in Georgia, which violates his contract's personal conduct clause.

"I don't think [the NFL] will have to wait for the legal process to take its course in this particular situation,'' the source said. "Not in the case where the player has failed to report arrests and transgressions, like he's mandated to do under the terms of the personal conduct clause in his contract.

"We can't tell the Titans that he won't play for them ever again, because the Titans, at the end of the day, will determine his long-term future. But the league will determine his short-term future. You should see something within a two or three-week time frame, and I would think you could expect a multiple-game suspension, or as much as a year or beyond.''

Jones is set to appear in a Fayetteville, Ga., court in mid-May for a February 2006 incident in which he was charged with felony obstruction of police for biting an officer between his thumb and index finger. The police had sought to question him while he was sitting in a car outside the home owned by his girlfriend's parents. A marijuana possession charge from March 2006 in Georgia was dismissed in January.

Jones' attorneys last week asked a judge in Georgia to delay his client's court appearance until at least May in order to give them time to inquire how the level of any potential NFL punishment might differ based on a plea agreement struck by Jones.

But Goodell isn't likely to wait for Jones' legal situation to sort itself out before handing down a suspension. It is the commissioner's intention, the source said, to have the league's new harsher personal conduct penalties in place "immediately'' after the measures are voted in by the owners next week in Arizona.

When asked if Goodell has made addressing the player conduct issue his top priority in 2007, the source said: "Absolutely. As it should be. It's his first three priorities these days. It speaks to the integrity and the image of the league, and it includes ensuring the protection of our players and the protection of the league itself.''

Goodell, in recent weeks, has worked closely with NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw to craft a tougher set of guidelines for suspension and fines to players who are repeat criminal offenders, with the commissioner determined to implement up to a one-year suspension that would require a player to petition the league for reinstatement. Under the league's current personal conduct policy, the commissioner has the authority to mete out discipline for player misconduct, but no suspension longer than four games has ever been administered.

"Roger is looking to really make his stand and differentiate himself from [former NFL commissioner] Paul Tagliabue on this one,'' said a source who has ties to the NFLPA. "He's really pushing to get something done on this front. This is his baby, his thing. It's his issue, and he's eager to make a mark in this area at the beginning of his tenure.''

Goodell's efforts have such strong support from the Players Association, the NFLPA source said, because the majority of players are as eager as the commissioner to see the league weed out its worst elements from an off-field conduct perspective.

"It's more than just the public's perception of the league that concerns players,'' the source said. "From a player's perspective, they don't want guys like that on their team. Not just that those guys might embarrass everyone with their behavior, it's that those guys are just not reliable teammates, on or off the field. And that impacts everyone, and everyone's chances of winning.

"Players say these guys coming into the league now are completely different. There's a knucklehead factor. They don't give a [crap] how many years you've got in the league or what you've done as a veteran player. They're just very disrespectful of the game and its players. It's important that this is coming from the players as much as the league, because guys see it as a team and player-level problem. These kind of guys can destroy a whole team, and players are realizing that now and that it hurts everyone's chances for success.''

Interesting AND about time!

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Pacman Suspension Coming?

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Pacman Jones has been involved in 10 incidents where he was either arrested or interviewed by police since Tennessee selected him sixth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft.

PACMAN SUSPENSION COMING?​

Don Banks of SI.com reports that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to suspend Titans cornerback Pacman Jones in the near future, and that the suspension could apply to the entire 2007 season.​

Although Banks tries (in our opinion) to stir up a little trouble by writing in the first paragraph of his story that the suspension will come "even before the legal process from a Las Vegas strip club brawl in February is complete," deeper in the piece Banks reveals the real impetus for the move -- Jones' failure to disclose to the team a pair of arrests from early 2006, during which Jones was charged with felony obstruction of a police officer and marijuana possession.​

"I don't think [the NFL] will have to wait for the legal process to take its course in this particular situation,'' a source told Banks. "Not in the case where the player has failed to report arrests and transgressions, like he's mandated to do under the terms of the personal conduct clause in his contract."​

But the trigger here isn't any personal conduct clause in Jones' contract. It's the league's Personal Conduct Policy. This specific document, as we've previously explained, mandates disclosure of player arrests. But Jones never told the Titans about these incidents.​

And because such behavior is unprecedented since the policy was enacted, Goodell's hands aren't tied by precedent. Also, smacking Jones hard for his failure to come clean will deter other players from doing the same thing.​

So good for Goodell. Though we're not sure that sitting out for a season will be enough to finally prompt Jones to "get it," it's the right decision for a guy who, to date, clearly doesn't.​

POSTED 9:12 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:33 a.m. EDT, March 21, 2007​

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm​

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Mods --

Can you please delete this thread or merge it with the other one .... ??

I didn't refresh before posting and it had already been posted ...

BHCF

 

[Dback Jon]

He should be suspended for a year - and about time the NFL cracked down.

 

[stewdog1]

If they suspend him for a year, they better suspend Tank for the same amount after he gets out of jail.

 

[Dback Jon]

If they suspend him for a year, they better suspend Tank for the same amount after he gets out of jail.

Part of Jones' issue is that he hid TWO arrests in Georgia. He is required to report those to the Titans and his team. He failed to do so. That failure will be the heart of the suspension.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

This is a right step in the right direction.



As for Pac-man ? I say if he has a year with nothing to do he will end up in jail. Where he belongs already. I garantee the only reason he is not in jail right now is because he is a football player.

 

[Russ Smith]

Part of Jones' issue is that he hid TWO arrests in Georgia. He is required to report those to the Titans and his team. He failed to do so. That failure will be the heart of the suspension.

And in one of them he reportedly BIT someone in the webbing between his fingers, in fact I think it was cop?

 

[Totally_Red]

Best part of the story is the cooperation indeed the active support of the NFLPA in the process of getting rid of the bad apples like Jones.