Throughout the week, we at Crystal Ball Run are debating and discussing the biggest stories in college football in a series we call “Meeting of the Minds.” If you missed it yesterday, check out our discussion on the potential for a rebound season by Texas and Florida. Now we couldn’t resist discussing the NFL’s decision to suspend Terrelle Pryor for the first five games of the season.
Tom Perry: By no means does this end the news cycle for Miami’s money, prostitution and party story, but the NFL announced today that Terrelle Pryor is eligible for Monday’s NFL Supplemental Draft, but with a twist. He’ll have to sit out the first five games in a sense to honor his NCAA suspension for this year.
In reality, Pryor would have been lucky to see the field anyways in the first five games, much less the entire season. So call this a public perception suspension for the NFL. So now Pryor has to wait five games before he can wear a baseball cap backwards and hold a clipboard.
Pryor just got a quick lesson in what it means to be playing for The Shield. It’s Roger Goodell’s world and you better like it. I’m on record as not supporting this ruling and don’t feel you can carry over this punishment to the professional game.
Matt Yoder: I’m incensed over this ruling. This is one more blatantly dictatorial ruling in the name of protecting The Shield and the NFL’s relationship with their farm system, the NCAA. I’m horrified that the NFL could basically carry over an NCAA suspension to the pro game. If the NFL has that kind of power, maybe there’s a detention Pryor didn’t serve in high school they could tack on as well. Bears safety Chris Harris voiced many of my concerns on Twitter…
So I’m curious. When did college suspensions start to carry over into the NFL? #WhatIMiss
After saying that is the NFL gonna go back n suspend current players n the league who violated NCAA rules while in college?
So is it fair to say the NCAA is minor league football?
@wcrtchicago what about all the other current NFL athletes who broke those same rules?
What NFL rule did Pryor break to merit a suspension… he’s not even in the league yet!!! Look at who has been drafted in the Supplemental Draft over the years — players declared ineligible or kicked off their teams. Of course Pryor worked around the system, but as Doug Lesmerises of the Plain Dealer asked on Twitter, “The supplemental draft is by definition a rulebreakers draft. If NFL doesn’t want it exploited, why not do away with it?”
All the NFL has done here is set an incredibly dangerous and stupid precedent. This hackneyed, hypocritical announcement after letting Pryor hang for months without a ruling and then giving him his NCAA suspension as some sort of entrance tax makes me sick.
Aaron Torres: Boys, I’ve got to be honest, I just don’t get what all the fuss is about here.
To a degree, yes the whole situation is weird. But Pryor left Ohio State under weird, uncertain circumstances. And from the beginning, he never fit into the textbook definition of what it takes to enroll in the Supplemental Draft. As the statement said, “Pryor made decisions that undermine the integrity of the eligibility rules for the NFL Draft.”
Understand this isn’t about Terrelle Pryor. This is about every other future Terrelle Pryor who messes up, sees a dark future where they’re at, and tries to manipulate the system in his favor. For once Terrelle Pryor couldn’t run away from his problems, couldn’t let his 6’6 frame and athleticism do the talking so he didn’t have to. He screwed up, and I’m proud of Roger Goodell making him deal with everything head on. For the first time, maybe ever, someone told Terrelle Pryor no. For the first time, maybe ever, Terrelle Pryor has to be accountable for his actions. That doesn’t seem to me, to be nearly terrible as it sounds.
Beyond that, the way everyone’s reacting is as if Goodell suspended him from the NFL for life. It’s six games, meaning he’ll be back in uniform, back in pads, back throwing wobbly ducks in practice before Halloween. Again, this wasn’t a life suspension. It wasn’t even a season-long suspension. It’s six freakin’ football games. Again, Goodell didn’t take away his chance to earn a living here.
With that said, let me ask you all one question: Say Roger Goodell suspended TPeezy four games, or six, but not the five that perfectly mirrors what he would’ve gotten at Ohio State. Is everyone worked up the same?
Allen Kenney: Jumping off Aaron’s point: The biggest problem here is in the delivery. Given the way the statement on the ruling is worded, it comes off as though the NFL is somehow trying to enforce NCAA rules ad hoc. I know a large faction of college football fans would like to see The Show get involved in helping the NCAA to police its athletes, but this would be a strange way to do it. In fact, you could make an argument that this ruling undermines the NCAA more than helping it. In a practical sense, I find it odd that anyone would view this as an actual punishment for Pryor. He’s getting five weeks of paid vacation – do you know how many autographs you can sign and cars you can test drive in that time?
Matt Yoder: AK, it comes off that the NFL is enforcing NCAA rules ad hoc… because that’s exactly what is happening. Of course this suspension isn’t actually going to hurt the career of Terrelle Pryor, it’s the principal of the matter which is so disturbing. That’s why I think any suspension, no matter the length, raises huge red flags.
Since when is it in Roger Goodell’s job description to make an example out of Terrelle Pryor or punish him for NCAA violations? Oh yea, I forgot, Roger Goodell can do whatever the f*ck he wants. While Goodell is at it… he should suspend Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll. And every graduate from The U in the league involved with Nevin Shapiro. What’s to stop the NFL from punishing others coming into the league or retroactively punishing players for their college behavior?
TP was suspended and then declared ineligible by the NCAA and any ineligible player can partake in the supplemental draft. Nowhere is there a grand morality clause that says how you became ineligible will lead you to serving the NCAA suspension you escaped.
The response from the NFL is full of hypocrisy. Here’s what PR man Greg Aiello said on Twitter…
On Pryor, we are not enforcing NCAA rules. We are upholding our own eligibility rules, which have never been based on the notion that…
..a college player could choose to violate NCAA rules, obtain declaration that he is ineligible for college fb, then enter the NFL draft.
Please! In one Tweet, the NFL is saying that they aren’t enforcing NCAA rules. In the next one, the NFL says that they are punishing Pryor because he “could choose to violate NCAA rules… then enter the NFL draft.”
But in the end, this isn’t about just Terrelle Pryor. The five-game suspension is a mere footnote to what is really happening. This is about the NCAA and the NFL making sure their version of “justice” was done. This is the precedent that no matter what you do in the NCAA (or pee wee football for that matter), Roger Goodell and the powers that be can still swing down their golden authoritative hammer.
Aaron Torres: I still stand by what I said earlier: I honestly don’t think the NFL cares about college football’s version of justice. They want to make sure that there isn’t another Terrelle Pryor next year, and three the year after that. They want to make sure kids who have some situation at their school, try to twist and bend the rules in their favor. That’s really all I make out of this.
You guys all make some compelling points, but in the end, this is just a non-story to me. I hate to go here, but I’m going to anyway: Terrelle Pryor is suspended from NFL play for six weeks. He can’t play football. Boo-freakin-who. When I think about how many people might lose their jobs, lose their homes, lose their loved ones over that same six week stretch, I just can’t get worked up about Pryor not being able to play a game. When it was his own stupidity that got him in this mess in the first place.
Getting to play football is a privilege and not a right. Maybe this will be the wake-up call Pryor needs to reach his full potential not only as a football player, but as a human being.
Follow Crystal Ball Run on Twitter at @CrystalBallRun.
