I expected some kind of punishment for Johnny Jolly getting arrested for codeine by the NFL, but holy shit.
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
The Green Bay Packers said Friday that they had been told by the National Football League that defensive end Johnny Jolly had been suspended indefinitely without pay for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
The suspension will last at least through the 2010 season. Jolly is eligible to apply for reinstatement after Super Bowl XLV.Ted Thompson, the team’s general manager, issued a statement:
“Johnny is a good player that loves everything about the game of football. We appreciate the contributions he has made to the Packers the past four seasons. His focus and priorities now lie elsewhere – our thoughts are with him during this difficult personal time.”
The team declined to comment further.
Again, holy shit. A whole season gone because of codeine? Jolly’s 27 right now, and he’s going to miss a whole year of what could be the prime of his career because of some purple drank? I know that the NFL wants codeine to be taken as a serious drug, but that’s incredibly harsh, considering Matt Jones, the former Jaguars wide receiver, was only suspended three games for possession of cocaine, something I’d consider far more dangerous.
Doing the math, 200 grams of codeine is about 6,600 Tylenol tablets, so maybe this is warranted. There’s definitely intent to sell with that amount on you, but a whole season? I know I’m talking like a parrot right now, repeating the same phrases, but I’m just in shock. Does having 200 grams of codeine warrant the same kind of punishment in the NFL as Donte’ Stallworth’s or Mike Vick?
There has to be some kind of appeal coming from Jolly as I type this. To lose a whole season, especially in his late 20s, should not be served without some kind of fight. We’ll see how this develops.
Don’t know the whole story, but man, that does seem harsh.