What will happen to all those Miami guys?
Not to mention Reggie Bush and others. How do you reconcile punishing one person for their behavior in college and ignore the same or worse from a substantial number of your other players? No wonder players hate Goodell.
I think this is a special circumstance though. With Bush and others, their NCAA rule breaking did not affect the NFL at all, because they still followed normal procedures for declaring for the draft, etc.
Prior however did not declare for the draft, and is only requesting to be allowed in the supplemental draft because he broke NCAA rules and was made ineligible.
Edit: the fact that he is being allowed into the NFL right away after being ruled ineligible is essentially a reward, and I don't blame the NFL from not wanted to reward kids for that.
But the supplemental draft does that for almost everyone in the supplemental draft. That's for kids that have been ruled academically ineligible and whatnot. Nobody says they're trying to sidestep the system. Also I'm not sure there's a real world equivalent here. Should a firm not be allowed to hire you because you got kicked out of a dorm in college or something? College ball doesn't want him. The NFL does. But once again willing employees and willing employers have these impediments, while many other players that broke far more egregious rules and laws get to play.
Brett Farve tried to side step rules about attending training camp for about a decade by "retiring" and mowing his lawn.
Rothlisburger and Kobe sidestepped rules about date rape. Why not suspend them?
I know. I know. Apples and oranges being eaten by straw men.
Whateva. He's being black balled.
IMO, Pryor is a kid who made a mistake and has been screwed over, but not by the NFL. Unfortunately he accepted a bad deal offered to him by OSU and the Sugar bowl for their financial gain. Both OSU and the Sugar Bowl benefitted by having him accept a 5 game suspension in order to play in the Sugar Bowl and agree to accept a 5 game suspension for the 2011 season.
In hindsight the best thing for him to have done would have been to be ruled ineligible for the Sugar Bowl and declare for the regular NFL draft. Had he done that he would likely have been drafted in the top 5 rounds or so in the regular NFL draft. Instead, he passed on that opportunity and then as more information of NCAA infractions arose he realized that he most likely would eventually be declared ineligible to play by the NCAA. At that point it was just too late for Pryor.
My understanding of the supplemental draft is that it is for players who have lost eligiblity to play in the NCAA after the regular NFL draft. By the deadline to declare for the supplemental draft Pryor had not been ruled ineligible to play, he was merely suspended for 5 games and therefore he is ineligible for the NFL supplemental draft. (and do not forget that the NFL even pushed back the supplemental draft which benefitted Pryor)
The easy answer for the NFL would have been to rule him ineligible for the supplemental draft and to make him wait a year to be drafted. Instead they made the decision to go against their own clearly written rules and to allow him into the supplemental draft and to suspend him for the first 5 weeks of the regular season.
How is this the NFL blackmailing Pryor?