Goodell: Pryor Manipulated Eligibility Rules; Suspension Upheld at LinesMaker

Goodell: Pryor Manipulated Eligibility Rules; Suspension Upheld

Ter­relle Pryor’s five-game sus­pen­sion was upheld by NFL Com­mis­sioner Roger Good­ell on Friday.

The Oak­land Raiders rookie quar­ter­back had appealed the pun­ish­ment, which was related to NCAA vio­la­tions he com­mit­ted while at Ohio State. Pryor entered the NFL sup­ple­men­tal draft instead of serv­ing a five-game ban with the Buck­eyes after being involved in a cash-for-memorabilia scan­dal that has put Ohio State under NCAA investigation.

“This smacks of a cal­cu­lated effort to manip­u­late our eli­gi­bil­ity rules in a way that under­mines the integrity of, and pub­lic con­fi­dence in, those rules,” Good­ell said in his decision.

Pryor was selected by the Raiders in the third round of the sup­ple­men­tal draft Aug. 22. He orig­i­nally said he would not con­test the ban but changed his mind and filed the appeal through the NFL Play­ers Association.

Sev­eral mem­bers of the union’s exec­u­tive com­mit­tee had expressed con­cerns about Good­ell sus­pend­ing a player who was not yet in the league.

NFL Network’s Jason La Can­fora reported Fri­day that the union plans to file a non-injury griev­ance on Pryor’s behalf.

Pryor did not attend his hear­ing Sept. 15 in New York.

“As we have done through­out this process, we will con­sult with Ter­relle and sup­port him in his deci­sion” on what to do next, NFL Play­ers Asso­ci­a­tion spokesman George Atal­lah said.

Pryor chose to give up his final sea­son with the Buck­eyes soon after coach Jim Tres­sel was forced out of his job for fail­ing to notify admin­is­tra­tors about play­ers — includ­ing Pryor — trad­ing mem­o­ra­bilia for cash and tat­toos at a Colum­bus, Ohio, tat­too parlor.

The quar­ter­back orig­i­nally was barred from enter­ing the sup­ple­men­tal draft, then was approved by Good­ell, with the pro­viso he must sit out five games.

Good­ell said Pryor left Ohio State “in order to avoid the con­se­quences of his con­duct while in col­lege — con­duct to which he had admit­ted and for which he had accepted a sus­pen­sion — and to has­ten the day when he could pur­sue a poten­tially lucra­tive pro­fes­sional career in the NFL.”

Pryor may be acti­vated by the Raiders after their game at Hous­ton on Oct. 9.

“In my judg­ment, allow­ing play­ers to secure their own inel­i­gi­bil­ity for col­lege play in order to avoid pre­vi­ously deter­mined dis­ci­pli­nary con­se­quences for admit­ted con­duct reflects poorly not on col­lege foot­ball — which acted to dis­ci­pline the trans­gres­sor — but on the NFL, by mak­ing it into a sanc­tu­ary where a player can­not only avoid the con­se­quences of his con­duct, but be paid for doing so,” Good­ell said.

The Asso­ci­ated Press con­tributed to this report.

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