Pryor ruled eligible for supplemental draft

Submitted by Happy Gilmore on

According to Schefter on ESPN right now. He says he won't be eiligible to practice with the team that picks him until after the 5th game of the season due to his attempts to "circumvent" the draft.

I know, I know - link or it didn't happen - but there is no link on ESPN yet, Schefter just broke the news on live TV.

 

Quote from Schefter on ESPN live:

League said he undermined the rules of the supplemental draft and therefore he will not be allowed to practice or play with his new team until after the fifth game of the season

Quote from ESPN article:

"... Pryor made decisions that undermine the integrity of the eligibility rules for the NFL Draft. Those actions included failing to cooperate with the NCAA and hiring an agent in violation of NCAA rules, which resulted in Ohio State declaring him ineligible to continue playing college football.
"Pryor then applied to enter the NFL after the regular draft. Pryor had accepted at the end of the 2010 college football season a suspension for the first five games of the 2011 season for violating NCAA rules. Pryor will be ineligible to practice prior to or play in the first five games of the NFL regular season after he signs."
Five other players are eligible to be drafted Monday: former Georgia running back Caleb King, former Northern Illinois safety Tracy Wilson, former Western Carolina cornerback Torez Jones, former Lindenwood University defensive end Keenan Mace, and former North Carolina defensive end Michael McAdoo.

 

EDIT: link - http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6873163/terrelle-pryor-eligible-nfl-s…

EDIT #2: ESPN now reporting that he can play in preseason games:

The NFL said that Pryor can play in preseason games after he is drafted and signs but he is not eligible to practice with his new team or play in a game until Week 6 of the season. Pryor will be allowed at his new team's training facility for meetings and to work with coaches during the time he is ineligible, however.

And also verifies that Rosenhaus is an ass:

Rosenhaus also said that NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and commissioner Roger Goodell worked together for the arrangement that will allow Pryor into the draft with a five-game suspension. "The five games we happily agreed to, voluntarily," Rosenhaus said. "The alternative wasn't very attractive. We're grateful for the chance."

link - http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6873163/terrelle-pryor-eligible-nfl-s…

Six Zero

August 18th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^

The NFL is in the business of professional football, and that business doesn't really care how the stars show up at their front door, as long as they show up.

The NFL could do wonders for the NCAA and all its myriad impropriety-- just start policing the agents, and penalizing (fining, or even better, blacklisting) players AND agents that violate the NCAA's terms of contact.  If agents were held accountable, it'd be a much different college football landscape. 

Sure, we'd still have the Nevin Shapiro's of the world, but make no mistake, the preferred destination of every college football player is the NFL.  If getting to the NFL meant you absolutely had to pay your dues on campus and keep your nose clean and your pockets empty, we'd never have stories like Cam Newton and Terelle Pryor and the U.  If it was a straight up must that a player had to stay clean to get into the pros, they'd do it-- but they don't have to, so of course they don't.  As it stands now, a player can do whatever he wants and take down anyone in the process, but none of that will block the way to the NFL.

Isn't that right, Terelle?

readyourguard

August 18th, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^

"The NFL is in the business of professional football, and that business doesn't really care how the stars show up at their front door, as long as they show up."

Agreed.  But they set their business interests aside when fining/suspending players for conduct detrimental to their supposed "moral code."  See: Pacman Jones, Plaxico Burress, Michael Vick, etc.  Tyrelle's case may not be a violation of conduct policy while a member of the NFLPA, but still......

WolvinLA2

August 18th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^

That's not true, he broke NFL rules as well.  If you want to go to the NFL after college, you need to apply for the draft.  Pryor didn't do that, but wants to play anway.  Pryor was eligible to play for OSU in 2012 at the time he applied for the supplemental draft, which is against the rules.  This is not just about NCAA rules.

In other words, you can't just decide that you'd rather play in the NFL this fall than in college and go to the supplemental draft, which is essentially what Pryor is doing. 

Sckon

August 18th, 2011 at 12:51 PM ^

I understand this point but in the grand scheme of things the NFL supplemental draft rules seem more like guidelines. Although I agree there seems to be some loophole with TP, the NFL has basically set a punishment which will not allow him to realistically play this year. He was going to be draft either this year or next year, why not just let him in with a suspension? I think what the NFL did was appropriate and helps set a future precedent since this seemed like the case of first impression.

jmblue

August 18th, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^

OK, but these rules amount to nitpicking.  The NCAA is obviously not going to allow him to return to college now., and it's not because of anything he's done this summer, but because of things he did before he declared for the supplemental draft.   There is no particular reason to believe Pryor committed any violations specifically so he could avoid the regular NFL Draft. 

Bluemandew

August 18th, 2011 at 10:02 AM ^

According to Ira on WTKA Pryor's agent just tweeted that Pryor is going to the NFL because the NCAA mandated that Pryor feed their families but could't feed his own. What a load of crap. He was getting free cars and tats he wasn't trying to feed anyone.

Indiana Blue

August 18th, 2011 at 10:02 AM ^

be considered OT?   Who gives a shit about him anyway?  and yes, as pointed out this indeed hurts tsio because he's gonna sing like a canary to the NCAA ... at least according to Bill King this morning.

Go Blue!

Blue in Yarmouth

August 18th, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^

If that is all you see you must be blind. Who's job is it to monitor players? The coach. Who's job is it to monitor the coach? The athletic director. Whose job is it to monitor the athletic director? and so on and so forth.

This is not a tressel/pryor problem when either a) the university was monitoring as they should and knew it was going on and turned a blind eye to it or b) had no idea it was going on because they weren't effectively monitoring the performance and actions of their coaches (who monitor their players).

In my mind the responsibility lies with the university to make sure the rules are followed. To do this you develop protocols and procedures and delegate responsibilities to other people, but at the end of the day the university is responsible for the conduct of their athletes. Either the procedures weren't in place, weren't being followed, or everyone was ignoring the fact that they were being broken...no matter how it is looked at it, this problem is far more wide spread than the coach and player.

Now, whether the NCAA can man up and dish out an appropriate penalty (I highly doubt it) is another question entirely.

I'll give you a brief example to better illustrate my point: My brother is the fire safety coordinator for a school board here in Nova Scotia. We have a fire safety act that contains a program specifically for schools that is monitored (auditted regularly) by the fire marshals office. During one audit it was found that the custodian at a school wasn't doing his weekly, monthly and anual checks as mandated by this program (he had paper work that had to be filled out when he completed each "check". 

The deputy fire marshal gave the custodian a fine for breaking the rules. After further discussion with the head fire marshal they decided to change the fine from the custodian to the principal of the school, as they are the person responsible for oversight of the program, and if they were doing their job they would have known the custodian wasn't doing his and been able to get him to start doing the "checks". 

After even more discussion with my brother and the superintendent of the school board the fire marshals office changed the fine once more. This time it was issued to the board as a whole because they were neglegent in their responsibility of making sure the principal was fulfilling his obligations under the fire safety act. 

This is why it doesn't matter (or at least it shouldn't matter) who knew what and who didn't, the fact that it was allowed to happen is what matters. If people did know and lied, that makes it worse, but ignorance shouldn't be a defense in this case IMHE. If they didn't know than they weren't doing their job and hence, failure to monitor. 

elaydin

August 18th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^

There are certainly many cases where just an athlete gets in trouble without the university getting in trouble (I would say most).  OSU didn't get in trouble because of the Tat 5 (or 6), they got in trouble for Tressel.  There's no indication that OSU compliance covered up anything.

I'd be surprised if anything came of this.  The NCAA has had this information for a while and didn't see it fit to delay the August 12th meeting.  Whatever investigation they had going on this should be over, since Pryor stopped talking.  Yet no NOA.

WolvinLA2

August 18th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

Just because there's no NOA doesn't mean there shouldn't be.  Also, when all that happened was tatoos, then I agree it's just a Tressel and guys thing.  But it sounds now like it's a lot more than that.  The AD and compliance can excusably let one violation, even if it's major, slip by.  But when it's many violations - whether they know or not is immaterial.  It's their job to know.

Sckon

August 18th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^

I would also agree with this to a certain extent. If the floodgates open (which they probably wont), then others need to be held accountable. But really there has nothing been that damning to the program, other than sheer embarassment. Everything right now is speculation, and without a paper trail, the NCAA really cant do anything.

mark5750

August 18th, 2011 at 10:08 AM ^

TP was pigeon holed into this position by JT?  I can't believe they would even consider taking a position like this when it is a well known fact that he is a blatant admitted rule breaker.  All I can say is WOW.

MichLove

August 18th, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^

I really can't wait until we stop hearing about Pryor all together - I don't see him amounting to much of anything in the league so I think this whole Pryor to the NFL thing has been so over blown..

Can it please be Sep 3rd yet?

baorao

August 18th, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^

for him to withdraw his name, hire a QB coach and just train for the 2012 combine/draft? It certainly couldn't put him in any worse position than he is now. Its not like teams are dying to spend 1st-3rd round picks on guys that miss all of training campe plus 5 games. Quarterbacks especially.

funkywolve

August 18th, 2011 at 10:55 AM ^

that no matter who takes him and in what round, he's heading straight for the practice squad.  Considering he has virtually no chance of seeing the field this year, I can't believe any team would actually put him on their 53 man roster.  

ballertim87

August 18th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^

cuz I'm sick of hearing about it every day, too.  However, it's the NFL that should have allowed him in the supplemental draft at the very first attempt.

I doubt he'll do anything in the NFL... but I wish him well--even ahead of football success, if he can just grow up and become a man that'd be pretty cool.

Seth

August 18th, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^

Very interesting.

The NFL is basically saying that you can't do something to purposely ruin your eligibility and then enter the draft

I can see why: players might otherwise purposefully break NCAA rules to get themselves declared ineligible after the draft. But that begs the question: how is he getting around the draft if the player's just going to go through the Supplemental Draft?

The weird part is to get in the Supplemental Draft you have to prove your status has changed. I guess the difference here is they're saying your status can't change voluntarily -- the Sup Draft is for guys who, e.g. thought they would be academically eligible and flunked. But in the past the guys who enter the Sup Draft are usually someone who screwed up in one way or another and lost their eligibility. So is the NFL saying there's a difference between the kid who committed his eligibility-losing act but thought he could keep it clandestine, versus the kid who brazenly broke a rule with the intent of losing his eligibility? I guess so. Weird place to put a line.

That's why I don't believe the part about "undermining the integrity of the draft" as much, unless they're suggesting Pryor is colluding with a team to take him with a 1st round pick in the Supplemental Draft who didn't think they could get him with their regular 2011 pick.

Anyway, whatever the NFL's self-reasoning, it's better for college football that the leagues respect each others' rules. But if they really were respecting each others' territories, the NFL would say Pryor can't play at all until he cooperates with NCAA fully. It's not the draft's credibility that Pryor's undermining -- it's the NCAA's.

BlueNote

August 18th, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

I don't see it that way though.  This rule invites you to meet with an agent and provoke a change in status.  That's an intentional act.

The only "uninentional" aspect of this is OSU declaring Pryor ineligible.  We all know that was a sham though - a device designed by OSU and Pryor to make his case for the supplemental draft.  To me, this rule says that, if you missed the cutoff and want to enter the draft, then meet with an agent and get your school to declare you ineligible. 

From the OSU football program's perspective, it never hurts to have another player in the NFL.  So there's some incentive to declare that player ineligible.  Not to mention it's probably required by NCAA rules.

Mr Miggle

August 18th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^

It makes sense that the NFL drew a line against intentionally making yourself ineligible. It's pretty clear that they don't want players to have the choice of choosing between the regular or supplemental draft. Obviously they're not worried about where Pryor goes in the draft, but the precedent it could set. Andrew Luck hiring an agent and entering the supplemental draft would be a big deal to them.

BigBlue86

August 18th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^

saw a tweet this morning that the Michigan athletic department has reached out to RichRod to have him detail his recruiting of Pryor. Must be to avoid any flack from the NCAA if the stuff from yesterday blows up some more. Good move on their part to take the assertive road.

BucksfanXC

August 18th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^

No one asked, but I'll give 'em anyway.

I think even Pryor knows he's not an NFL caliber QB right now, and that he could have a shot starting on a CFL or USFL team, or even more of a stretch but possible, he could be a WR/TE in the NFL. But back-up QB in the NFL makes more money than the rest of those other options combined. So he's taking his shot at it while he can.

I also think the NFL should have said he's ineligible for the draft. It is total hypocrisy for them to say, you undermined the intent of the draft, but yet still let him in the draft. I'd bet the NFL, specifically Goodell, is making this move as more of a "See guys, I'm totally nice to the players" PR stunt than anything else. That and it will get the NFL publicity, and therefore more money.

DixieWreck

August 18th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^

this entire charade has been. Go ahead and cheat student athletes, your attorneys will defend you and you will be rewarded with millions! How far society's morals and ethics have fallen is just plain disturbing!