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?
Not blackmailing. Black balling. Because they are singling him out for punishment in collusion with the NCAA. No other player in the history of the NFL that I know of has ever been punished by the NFL for something they did in college. Either he's eligible or he's not. It was clear he what he wanted early on and why, and they dragged their feet on it, then they implement this weirdo thing?
And I'm not buying this line of reasoning that the NFL is cutting him a break or something. It's just allowing a willing employee to go to a willing employer.
Also I don't believe any coach (like Tressel) has ever been punished by the NFL for anything they did in college, and probably never will. They're trying to make an example of him saying "The NFL isn't a place to go to get away from the NCAA or to avoid following rules in college". But yes it is. That's the whole point of the NFL.
They're more than happy when Reggie Bush or Cam Newton comes out early. Not so happy when Maurice Clarret or Mike Williams or Terrell Pryor does. It's just picking a choosing.
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LOL, I was tired when I wrote this so please excuse my typo please.
Let me start by saying that I do not like the way that all of this went down. Pryor certainly made some mistakes (like many players have) and some people took advantage of him for their own gain. Had things been handled correctly he would have been in the regular draft and he would not have been facing any suspension.
Eja, you said "Either he's eligible or he's not"...well, by the NFL rules he should NOT be elibible. Their rules are pretty cut and dry on the situation. He did not apply for the regular NFL draft and his situation has not changed since then. He still has NCAA eligibilty left. The rules for the supplemental draft are set up so that players cannot try to manipulate where they go by avoiding the NFL draft and then applying to the supplemental draft. With this ruling (which the NFL, NFLPA and Pryor agreed to) the NFL is building their own rules for Pryor. If this was not a good thing for Pryor he and or the NFLPA would have challenged the decision.
The unfortunate thing is that Pryor made decisions without full knowledge of the rules. After the regular draft, he announced he was leaving OSU and he signed with an agent not realizing that he was not eligible for the supplemental draft. There was not turning back once he signed with an agent (like what happened with Williams and Clarrett).
Yes, the NFL dragged their feet on this and pushed back the date of the supplemental draft but that could only help Pryor. By this time he had to know that he was not eligible for the supplemental draft because he still had NCAA eligibility. This is when Pryor started to say that he admitted more misdeeds that would make him ineligible to play in the NCAA. He did this because if he were to be ruled ineligible by the NCAA this would have been the change in status he needed to be ruled eligible for the supplemental draft.
In the end the NFL bent their rules to allow him in the supplemental draft. Yes they suspended him 5 games and I am sure that they chose that number (the same he would have missed had he stayed at OSU) for a reason but I still think that getting NFL coaching and collecting 11 NFL paychecks is better than not getting NFL coaching and collecting 0 NFL paychecks.
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I guess the way I saw it or see it is that the NFL punishes you for doing things that hurt the NFL, not college. I don't see how Pryor did that. Instead the NFL is punishing him worse for hurting Ohio St than they punished Rothlisburger for what he did. That seems kind of arbitrary and black bally to me.
Plus it's not like people in college don't take advantage of the athletes.
Topic: Pryor can play in the NFL but not till game 6? (Read 18109 times)