National Football League: Goodell suspends Packers Defensive End Johnny Jolly for entire season
The National Football league announced the indefinite suspension of Green Bay Packers defensive end Johnny Jolly. Johnny’s suspension takes effect immediately and he would not be eligible for reinstatement until after the Super Bowl making it, in the very least, a season wide suspension.
According the NFL’s substance abuse policy, a player “should not by their conduct suggest that substance abuse is either acceptable or safe.” Johnny’s suspension was reportedly for violating the said policy. He was arrested in 2008 for possession of 200 grams of Codeine. So far the case has not been settled and there has been no conviction.
If convicted, Johnny could face 20 years in prison. NFL Commissioner Goodell has been stepping up pressure on players and handing out suspensions right and left. Vincent Jackson had been driving under the influence and was suspended for three games, Brian Crushing got a 4 game ban for using performance enhancing drugs and the so called “Williams Wall” did not even get that after testing positive for banned substances. However, Goodell has been at least trying to get Williams suspended.
Johnny’s suspension still stands out because Johnny was not suspended for violating NFL’s personal conduct policy as one would expect after law enforcement accused him of peddling drugs. Perhaps the fact that there has been no conviction is why Goodell decided to go with substance abuse instead, even if there seems to be hardly any evidence at all that he was a user. Unless of course those 200 grams of codeine he was arrested with, were for himself. The disparity between the courts and the NFL is still unexplained.
Even if there was substance abuse involved that we have not been able to get wind of, it is codeine. A controlled substance and not something more perverse like cocaine. Clearly the NFL believes that Johnny is a drug dealer or the year long suspension simply would not make sense for this kind of a substance abuse violation in comparison to the much lighter disciplinary actions taken against other NFL superstars. Maybe that is the key here, ‘Superstars.’ Johnny was certainly valuable to the Packers but his star value does not really compare with, say, Vincent Jackson.
If there indeed is something that has not been made public, we cannot say but we do know that first time offenders are generally given up to 4 game suspensions, unless it is a personal conduct violation of drug dealing magnitudes. In that case Goodell jumped the gun declaring him guilty before the court of law could.
As for the impact of Johnny’s year long absence on the Packers? There are indications that they saw this coming. They had depth in their defence when this year’s draft came by yet they drafted defensive linemen in the second and seventh rounds. They are prepared to deal with the situation fairly decently. Of course there is no replacing a guy who landed 15 tackles, 9 assists, one sack, two forced fumbles and an interception. Depth or not, the Packers would still feel that quality missing but it is not as terrible as you would think could be.
Packers General Manager gave a muted testimony to Johnny’s skills, adding that Johnny loves everything about the game. “We appreciate the contributions he has made to the Packers the past four seasons,” he said. That is the least the Packers could do considering what he has done for them.
A possible replacement for Johnny could be the Packers second round draft pick, Mike Neal. Though, that would involve a difficult transition to the 3-4 defensive line the Packers use. Mike has been playing a 4-3 defence through his college years.
Johnny could still appeal the decision but an indefinite suspension with no possibility of reinstatement until after the Super Bowl is a good indication that the NFL does not intend to go back on it. The best Johnny could hope for is a reduced suspension but that will not come easily. If the case could be settled in his favour then there would be a chance for him to get back into the game. That is a big thing because the legal process, in all likelihood, would take longer than a year. It might even be that Johnny Jolly would never play in the NFL again. Let’s hope not.
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