When reports emerged last week that Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis will be suspended for one game due to a 2008 arrest for marijuana possession, coach Rex Ryan opted to think happy thoughts.
"I plan on Shaun being there the first game," Ryan said at the time. "Until they flat tell me
that 'No he is not playing this game,' we are going on as business as
usual. We expect him to be in there."
They've now told Ryan that Ellis won't be playing in the game.
The team has circulated an announcement from the league that Ellis has been suspended for the regular-season opener, due to the violation of the Substances of Abuse Policy arising from the pot arrest.
Ellis also will be fined an additional $100,000, which reflects an apparent increase in the consequences for that specific behavior. Previously, the going rate had been simply a one-game suspension.
Ellis will be required to leave the team as of Saturday, September 5. He'll be permitted to rejoin the Jets on Monday, September 14.
NFL announces Shaun Ellis suspension
Posted by Mike Florio on August 17, 2009 10:33 AM ET
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In related news, Peyton Manning to be suspended for 2 weeks due to unpaid library fines stemming from his days in Tennessee.
Seriously, can we get rulings on these things in the same season they actually occur? I am fine with punishing a guy caught with drugs, but lets not wait a year for something this trivial. Either punish them when it happens or let it go.
Cripes ... Goodell is turning the NFL quite literally into a police state.
...Seriously, can we get rulings on these things in the same season they actually occur?
To be fair, and we can debate whether or not Goodell is ever fair, he probably wanted to wait until Ellis had his day in real court on this arrest before deciding on a suspension. Since the arrest occurred in late November or early December of last season, that day in court may not have occurred until after their season. I don't know that for a fact, I am just guessing. So waiting until now for the suspension makes some sense from that perspective if Ellis pleaded no-contest.
Schefter tweets that the suspension was for "some sort of banned supplement". LOL - his first day at the World-Wide Loser and he's already getting his facts wrong.
Looks like he'll fit right in!!
$100,000 fine? Man, that's a lot of pot.
Being punished for disagreeing with hysterical freedom hating idiots shouldn't happen to anyone, not even a Jet.
Goodell is a softie.
Only one game for drug possesion, self destructive behavior, tarnishing the image of the NFL, association with organized crime and supporting narco-terrorism.
This Ellis guy is the enemy in the war on drugs and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is up to his neighbors to report everything to the police and get him on the straight and narrow.
Prison time would dry him out, get him off those drugs, and get his mind right.
Hey why dont these people who do not approve of marijuana realize that more than 16 states in these United States of America allow us to grow marijuana, possess marijuana and best of all smoke the Marijuana. It is LEAGLE. In Caliornia, the voters told the FEDS and state legislture to pack sand. Better living through chemistry.The NFL and the Least Coast needs to come into the latter half of the 20th century for starters and then perhaps catch a shuttle into these more modern time. Taa Taa for now kids