Bengals LB Thurman will miss another season By JOE KAY, AP Sports Writer July 26, 2007
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Odell Thurman's petition for reinstatement was denied Thursday by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who decided that the Cincinnati Bengals middle linebacker should miss another season because of his ongoing problems.
Thurman was suspended for all of last season after skipping a drug test and later being arrested for drunken driving. He asked Goodell to reinstate him for the 2007 season, but was turned down.
Thurman will be allowed to ask for reinstatement again following the season.
Goodell's decision leaves the Bengals with two suspended players as they open training camp. Receiver Chris Henry will miss the first eight games for repeatedly violating the league's conduct policy -- he has been arrested four times.
The Bengals are the league's prime example of misconduct, with 10 players arrested over a 14-month span. Thurman and Henry have been repeatedly suspended by the league.
Bengals players were expected to report for training camp in Georgetown, Ky., on Thursday, a day before their first practice. The team had no immediate comment on Goodell's decision.
At a media luncheon on Tuesday, owner Mike Brown supported Thurman, a second-round draft pick out of Georgia who led the team in tackles as a rookie in 2005.
"Odell has been through a difficult time," Brown said. "He's worked hard to bring himself back. It's the call of the league (about reinstatement). I know one thing: If he can get back, he's a good player."
Thurman was suspended for the first four games of last season because he skipped a drug test. He was arrested for drunken driving last September, prompting Goodell to extend the suspension to a full season.
He pleaded no contest to drunken driving in February and was allowed to enter a treatment program. On June 1, a judge in Cincinnati suspended all but six days of a 90-day sentence, and ordered Thurman to serve those six days at a treatment center.
That wasn't the end of his problems.
Two men in Monticello, Ga., filed a complaint alleging that Thurman kicked and hit them at a party two days after he appeared in court to settle the drunken driving case in Cincinnati. Thurman, who is from Georgia, was accused of assaulting the two men following an argument at a home.
The two men later dropped their complaint, and the case was dismissed without charges filed.
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:06 am Posts: 2402 Location: Freedonia
Another whole season? That's excessive. I wonder if this guy is going to lose his mind and start suspending people for chewing gum during interviews.
PATS RULE IN '07!!!1!!
_________________ "Do you realize that even as we sit here, we are hurtling through space at a tremendous rate of speed? Think about it. Our world is just a hanging curveball." -Bill Lee
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:59 am Posts: 9057 Location: Camden, NJ
I know it will get done (at least I pray), but right now Marc Bulger is fighting the Rams over a contract extention....after giving gobs of money over the last 3 years to lock up Bruce, Holt, and Little, why the fuck are they trying to cheap out on Bulger? just get this shit done already
_________________ Frank Parisan was my friend. He was my Camden Brudda. He will be missed
I am eagerly awaiting Brandon Jacobs unleashing hell on opposing defenders this season.
Quote:
Jacobs is strong enough to lift 670 pounds on a squat machine and almost half a ton on a leg press for more than five reps, according to Carini. And thanks to a weight sled onto which Carini would load 90 pounds before strapping it to Jacobs, the NFL's biggest No. 1 back is almost as speedy as most of his counterparts. Three years after his 40-yard dash was timed in the mid-4.5 second range, Jacobs is now running in the mid-4.4s.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
im eagerly awaiting brian dawkins to flatten jacobs and suplex plex
go birds!
I predict multiple concussions and a potential mid season retirement for Dawkins once Jacobs gets done with him.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
im eagerly awaiting brian dawkins to flatten jacobs and suplex plex
go birds!
I predict multiple concussions and a potential mid season retirement for Dawkins once Jacobs gets done with him.
i predict jacobs will have a new coach by week 10. that same week, brian dawkins will be named defensive player of the week.
I'm hoping like hell for a new coach after the season. There have been rumors of everyone from Cowher to Belicheck to Weis.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:33 am Posts: 35357 Location: Los Angeles, CA Gender: Male
Too Big a Man Too Say wrote:
Briggs gives in and signs for the season. I don't see how the Bears aren't favorites to repeat as NFC champs.
Yeah, I know Grossman is still their quaterback.
And they lost Thomas Jones, you have to wonder how well Benson will do full-time now. Their defense is just disgusting though, and since the division is so weak, they're definetly the favorites in the NFC North.
_________________ Winner, RM all-time NBA tourney.
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:28 am Posts: 28541 Location: PORTLAND, ME
jacobs will wear down
dawkins won't be much help when teams are running around him and running it up on the iggles
the bears will represent the nfc in the super bowl, again, and rex will manage to throw it away, maybe to nate clements in the conference championship.
the bronx, bolts, colts, pats and ravens are all very tough teams that will fight it out for the AFC and ultimately the Super Bowl.
thanks jets, bengals, stealers and jags for making it interesting.
oh, and mike vick will have a great rapping career
dawkins won't be much help when teams are running around him and running it up on the iggles
the bears will represent the nfc in the super bowl, again, and rex will manage to throw it away, maybe to nate clements in the conference championship.
the bronx, bolts, colts, pats and ravens are all very tough teams that will fight it out for the AFC and ultimately the Super Bowl.
thanks jets, bengals, stealers and jags for making it interesting.
oh, and mike vick will have a great rapping career
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:47 pm Posts: 9282 Location: Atlanta Gender: Male
Brandon Jacobs is going to be a fantasy football steal this year. He's not on most peoples radar really and if the Giants can move the ball this year he's going to score his 8-12 touchdowns. He's a freaking load to bring down. I doubt he'll get 1500 yards, but he's going to score some TD's, if he can manage 1200 yards he's going to be a steal in the late 2nd or early 3rd rounds as a second or third back.
Brandon Jacobs is going to be a fantasy football steal this year. He's not on most peoples radar really and if the Giants can move the ball this year he's going to score his 8-12 touchdowns. He's a freaking load to bring down. I doubt he'll get 1500 yards, but he's going to score some TD's, if he can manage 1200 yards he's going to be a steal in the late 2nd or early 3rd rounds as a second or third back.
some potential problems: -while Jacobs is the starter, Droughns may end up getting a little more than a backup's share of carries. -Kevin Gilbride is the offensive coordinator
that said, his previous success as the short yardage back means he'll still have value for his TD's alone.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:47 pm Posts: 9282 Location: Atlanta Gender: Male
Bucs Cut Simeon Rice.... oh man, even at 33 I'd love to see this guy in camp for depth.
Defensive end Simeon Rice, one of the NFL's most dominant pass rushers over the past decade, will no longer be playing in Tampa Bay.
According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the Buccaneers terminated Rice's contract because he failed a physical. Rice, who had shoulder surgery last season, had played six seasons with Tampa Bay and was an integral member of the defense that powered the Bucs' 2003 Super Bowl run.
He had one season remaining on his contract, at a base salary of $7.25 million for 2007, and an exorbitant salary cap charge.
Rice, 33, appeared in eight games for the Bucs last season and was placed on injured reserve on Nov. 22, 2006 with a left shoulder injury. He suffered the injury on Oct. 8 at New Orleans, although the exact nature of it was not disclosed. Rice finished the season with a career-low two sacks and also had 21 tackles, four forced fumbles and one pass defensed.
Earlier last season, while attempting to play through the pain, Rice said he was struggling and was being forced to "play like a one-armed bandit."
He had missed just two games total (neither because of injury) in his previous 10 NFL seasons before last season's injured reserve designation.
Last spring, there were whispers that Rice's time in Tampa Bay was growing short and that the Bucs would have entertained trading him.
The former Illinois star, a first-round draft choice of the Arizona Cardinals in 1996, Rice has 121 career sacks. He has posted eight seasons of double-digit sacks, with a career high of 16½ in 1999, and entered 2006 with five straight seasons of 10 or more sacks.
The colorful and eminently quotable Rice, who last summer told ESPN.com that he was "the bar" by which all pass-rushers should be measured, was often criticized early in his career for being a one-dimensional defender, a guy who ignored the run and only wanted to collect sacks. But when he left Arizona and signed with Tampa Bay as an unrestricted free agent in 2001, he improved his play against the run, even if most of his critics never gave him ample credit for doing so.
In 166 games, Rice has 460 tackles, 35 forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries and five interceptions.
Information from ESPN.com senior writer Len Pasquarelli contributed to this report.
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