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A Long Way From Lambeau
Mean Streaks Through The NFL
by Mark Lyne-Austen
3/6/2008
Bad guys have always been part of the NFL. Rampaging through the history of the game, players with mean streaks, questionable personal lives, and cheats have long been as much a feature of the NFL as the clean-cut all-American heroes. While the NFL is undoubtedly the home of paragons of moral virtue, the game includes players who represent all sides of modern life and three players Adam Jones, Chris Henry, and Odell Thurman – who are unlikely to qualify for a position as positive role model are currently establishing exactly where the bad guys might fit in today’s league.
 One of those players is of course Adam Pacman Jones. The now Dallas Cowboy missed the entire 2007 season following receipt of the longest penalty for an off-field infraction in 44 years. Jones was involved in a series of incidents, the most notable of which seeing a man paralyzed in a shooting incident in Las Vegas. Jones is clearly one of the NFL’s bad guys though did not particularly offend against the league itself. The suspension against Pacman was based on his off-field life and not his play on the field.
Having been taken 6th overall in the 2005 draft by Tennessee, the first defensive player taken, Jones has always been considered a player of massive potential. As one of the bad guys though, his place in today’s league was in jeopardy following the suspension. Eventually traded to Dallas despite the talent that the Titans had seen, Pacman will be closely watched over this year.
The scrutiny will come from the watching fans and media, the Commissioner’s office, and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys already have one of the sport’s bad guys on their team, Terrell Owens. TO is a mouthy and obnoxious receiver who courts publicity and was a destructive force in the locker rooms of the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles. He also happens to have posted outstanding stats through his career. With the media centrepiece that is TO already on board, Pacman Jones will find himself with a team well used to dealing with a bad guy.
The Pacman situation is clearly different to TO in that Jones earned his reputation through involvement with criminal associates and a situation in which a man was severely injured. That kind of shady business is not tolerated in the current NFL ever since Commissioner Roger Goodell’s behavioural clampdown from the 2006 season.
Goodell has suspended 4 players in his tenure to date for off-field conduct. Jones is one of them while Mike Vick faces indefinite suspension. The other two are Terry Tank Johnson and Chris Henry. Tank Johnson will line up for the same Cowboys side as Pacman Jones. His suspension for 10 games in 2007 for a serious incident involving a misdemeanour weapons charge having expired and seeing him rehabilitate in Texas.
 The same rehabilitation with an NFL team has not yet happened for Chris Henry. Released by the Bengals in early April, Henry has yet to find himself an NFL team despite having a receiving talent that saw him generate an exciting 16.8 yards per catch in 2006. Having been suspended 8 games in 2007 and for 2 games in 2006, Henry has had a raft of legal troubles. While the Cincinnati organisation stuck with him following those suspensions, they cut their ties in April following another arrest.
In the current NFL climate, Chris Henry was just too great a risk for the Bengals to continue working with. The likelihood of further suspension for off-field activities meant his value to the team was severely reduced and his place in today’s NFL is in doubt. Henry has reportedly been working with the New Orleans Saints and is not completely without prospect of salvation with a team in the league but as a bad guy in the NFL at the moment Henry’s prospects are not great.
The clampdown on bad guys may have been accelerated by Commissioner Goodell but it was not begun by him. One player who was up for suspension even before Goodell came into office was Odell Thurman. Another former Cincinnati Bengals player, Thurman had a terrific rookie year in 2005 where he was a candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Thurman was found guilty of one of substance abuse and subsequently suspended at the start of 2006.
Thurman’s suspension was lengthened to the remainder of the 2006 season and fell foul of off-field incidents that year. Commissioner Goodell refused Thurman’s application to return for the 2007 season on player conduct grounds meaning that the talented Linebacker missed 2 entire seasons.
 Odell Thurman was only reinstated into the league in January 2008 but his future in the league is uncertain. The Bengals severed their ties in May to leave what was once one of the hottest prospects in the league without a club. Having not seen action for 2 years, it will not be easy for Thurman to simply step in elsewhere. His career has been cut massively and being one of the league’s bad guys is a difficult place to rebuild both his reputation and his prospects.
Each of these three players is at a crossroads. Greater scrutiny of off-field actions and higher standard of expected conduct make being one of the NFL’s bad guys a risky proposition. It is not yet clear exactly whether all will be able to remake their careers and become the players their potential suggested they could be and each are probably facing their last chance.
Those three are not the only ones who have struggled with the standards required and a total of 17 players were suspended at one time or another during the 2007 season. There will without doubt be other players who miss time on the field in 2008 but those who do will need to look to Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, and Odell Thurman to weigh up where a bad guy fits in today’s NFL.
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