Sullivan arrested

[patchick]

I am sure that he has a chance to make the team if he is motivated and in shape, that's why they traded for him. After this incident, however, they will be more likely to cut him if he is not motivated and in shape. They don't need the distraction.

I'll second this middle-ground approach -- Sullivan's now on the world's shortest leash. I doubt they'll cut him just on the basis of a relatively minor charge, especially since that risks a grievance filing. But the minute he fails his conditioning runs, etc., he's gone for football cause.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[PATSNUTme]

If having a handgun is legal, as it appears, then that should not be a problem.

Having the grass is. Again, if this is the first time he has been caught with it then he goes into the NFL program. If it's not then expect a suspension to come down soon.

I think that his making the team will depend on if he can pass the TC conditioning run and then how he performs in the pre-season.

This incident should not get him sent packing unless there is more than what we know.

 

[PromisedLand]

At that little life lessons class they make the rookies attend the veterans should explain to the rookies that you should never, ever admit to possession of anything, and never, ever consent to a vehicle search.

Yeah, that's the problem, he handled the stop wrong - the fact that he actually broke the law is not something we should care about.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Sorry if I'm beating this to death, but the grass will not be an issue to the NFL until after the entire court case is concluded, which will be like 2008. Any nitwit lawyer can probably get Sully out of the pot charges, no problem. I doubt he ever gets into any actual trouble over it, and therefore the NFL won't do a thing.

Please refer to Patchick's comment for the rest of the story. Sully can file a greviance if he is cut due to grass unless he is actually found guilty in court.

 

[14thDragon]

Having the grass is. Again, if this is the first time he has been caught with it then he goes into the NFL program. If it's not then expect a suspension to come down soon.

I know the suspension can come from just possesion (drug or paraphenalia), if they have you on record as a repeatedly failing the drug tests. (Does anyone know if has failed any previously?)

But would they put him in the program if he tests negative for using and just had it in his car?

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

The NFL won't do ANYTHING until the case is settled in court. They can't. It is an agreement with the Player's Union.

I really don't believe they can put him in a program based on rumors about whether he failed a police drug test. The Union is very strict about these things.

I also don't think the Pats can let him go based on either the incident, until it is settled in court, or based on Sully going into a NFL treatment program.

Remember when the Cowboys got rid of Quincy Carter? They had to make up a bunch of crap to get rid of him, they couldn't get rid of him just because he went into a NFL program.

Sully will be on the roster at least for the first day of camp, I think.

Patchick might know the legal ins and outs about this...

 

[Mike the Brit]

I think that some posters may be exaggerating the amount of leverage that the Patriots have with Sullivan.

According to PFW: "New Orleans had already done the heavy lifting on Sullivan’s contract, paying the $11.5 million in guarantees the deal called for and absorbing the initial signing bonus of more than $7 million."

$11.5 million dollars is a LOT of money (cue joke about the cost of burgers) and I can't imagine that Sullivan doesn't have almost all of it sitting in the bank.

If he'd have walked out of football earlier it would have cost him a lot of money. Now, if he just wants to smoke marijuana and play loud music at 4 am there isn't much that anyone can do about it.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The Mike Wright - Santonio Thomas bandwagon forms here. :eat3:

:singing: I'm thinking steel drum for this bandwagon :singing:

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Low-rider...

 

[Buck Fenson]

Patriots | Police and courts: J. Sullivan
Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:25:28 -0700

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports New England Patriots DL Johnathan Sullivan was arrested Sunday morning, June 25, and charged with possession of marijuana, a seat belt violation, running two stop signs and playing loud music in Griffin, Ga., according to police reports. The police report said officer, M.G. Bowman first asked Sullivan if there were any weapons in the car, and after Sullivan said yes, Bowman retrieved a handgun. Bowman then asked Sullivan and passenger Tamarco Clemons if there was anything illegal in the car, and Sullivan and Clemons said no. Sullivan granted Bowman permission to search the car, where Bowman retrieved the bag that was found to contain 11 crumpled Big Mac wrappers and less than an ounce of marijuana, which Sullivan and Clemons claimed was not their property. They were later released on signature bonds.

As a Saints fan, I was surprised that your team traded for Sully. He has always been unmotivated and now I know why. Seems like he worked hard at college just to get this big payday with the signing bonus. I hope your coach does the right thing and cut him loose. He is a cancer that will spread.

 

[Buck Fenson]

The abouve police report is false. Someone posted it on our message board and I thought you may like it. We always make fun of his weight. Especially after he was caught in the media buffetline before a game or was it halftime. Anyway, good luck in the upcoming season.

 

[I'm Ron Borges?]

Sorry if I'm beating this to death, but the grass will not be an issue to the NFL until after the entire court case is concluded, which will be like 2008. Any nitwit lawyer can probably get Sully out of the pot charges, no problem. I doubt he ever gets into any actual trouble over it, and therefore the NFL won't do a thing.

Please refer to Patchick's comment for the rest of the story. Sully can file a greviance if he is cut due to grass unless he is actually found guilty in court.

It's not the law he has to worry about, it's Bill Belichick. If Belichick is already fed up with him, he's gone. The police and court systems are the last of his worries right now.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

A few of you are missing the point. This has nothing to do with whether pot should be legal or his gun was registered or whether we all have run stop signs or driven without seatbelts or whether he cooperated once stopped. This is about character and the kind they want on this team.

Before this incident Sullivan was an apparently overweight, unmotivated kid who had the talent to have been drafted in the first round to play a position BB puts tremendous value in. Bethel was a difficult to reach kid with enough speed to get drafted in the second round, but so stubbornly immature that after three years of top flight coaching and mentoring he still couldn't even take responsibility for his own fate. NO and NE swapped two problem children to give each a fresh start on a second and possibly final chance (although there are enough teams in this league that will take a flyer on anyone each probably assumes there will be as many chances as it takes until someone finally appreciates them).

Sullivan came here fat and unmotivated - that's worth a shot on a first round talent at his position. Now he is fat, unmotivated, immature, dumb as a brick, and he's managed to embarrass a franchise that prides itself in fielding a team full of character guys who know better and value their opportunity highly enough not to behave in a way that reflects poorly on their employer. I think he was going to be given every opportunity to earn a roster spot. Now I'm not so sure he will be given any, and if he is he'll likely have to prove to be better than a backup NT to cost some less talented but harder working guy who cares about playing football the 53rd roster spot.

And they can cut him for any reason - the only time a grievance arises is if a player is injured or owed bonus money that was guaranteed and the team balks at paying it or tries to get some of it back. We owe him nothing. His salary doesn't kick in until he makes the 53 man roster, and in his case it might take longer since the salary guarantees to veterans with less than 4 credited years I believe kick in after week 4.

He could be suspended just for being arrested too - Colts players were long before any legal action arose following their arrests last season. As was Ty Law for one game in December of 2000 - although the Pats did that themselves. It's part of the morals clause the NFL has that allows them to discipline a player irrespective of what the legal system can and cannot prove - the arrest itself is enough to warrant it. And if he is not in the program already this will land him in it whether he was technically charged with DUI or not or whether he had previously been in the pee in a cup program because posession of a banned substance is in and off itself an offense in the NFL. He will now have to pee in a cup.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

He'll be gone, the Patriots don't put up with that crap from any player.

They don't? I seem to remember a little talked about incident involving Ty Law, the Canadian border and Ecstasy tablets about 8 years ago.

 

[spacecrime]

Let's put the breaks on for a second.
4.) Wasn't our beloved Ty Law found in the presence of an illegal substance? He still has gone on without being shipped to the CFL.

.

Whoa. Let's re=-apply the brakes. Ty Law was a top quality player, never in any danger of being shipped to the CFL.

Sullivan was in danger of being cut, was given a second shot, and blew it. If another team picks him up, he won't be in the CFL, but I doubt anyone will pick him up.

comapring sullivan to law is silly

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Remix6:

With Bioli already having decided that Bethel was a goner, and then trading him to whoever would take him, I don't think he can make the team. He was not in the plans, was being peddled, and is now gone. How does someone make the team when they are being traded for the whole offseason? He was a goner, and is a goner, in the eyes of Bioli.

Do you know for a fact they had decided he was a goner? Are you in the inner sanctum of BB-Pioli? What makes you think assumptions = facts?

 

[I'm Ron Borges?]

They don't? I seem to remember a little talked about incident involving Ty Law, the Canadian border and Ecstasy tablets about 8 years ago.

That's Ty Law. When Sullivan starts getting consideration for the Hall of Fame, then maybe people will look the other way if he screws up once. This is an underachiever that's getting pretty darn close to his ninth life. Not nearly the same thing.

 

[The Gr8est]

When I was in the navy stationed at Great Lakes, Illinois I had a room mate who had just finished recruiting duty in New Orleans. We went out one night and I was stunned to see him open a beer and start drinking it while driving....on base. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He said that that was no big deal in New Orleans. I was able to get him to understand that he was putting his career in jeopardy and he stopped doing it.

Not to excuse anything Sullivan has done (or more importantly, HASN'T done), but getting Sullivan out of New Orleans and into a Pats training camp could resurrect his career. Ideally he needs to move up here and get away from whoever he is hanging with now.

All that being said, given his track record I am not overly optimistic....especially if he already has his money ala Ryan Leaf. However they say a fool and his money are soon parted....maybe he doesn't have as much left as we think.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

The NFL won't do ANYTHING until the case is settled in court. They can't. It is an agreement with the Player's Union.

I really don't believe they can put him in a program based on rumors about whether he failed a police drug test. The Union is very strict about these things.

I also don't think the Pats can let him go based on either the incident, until it is settled in court, or based on Sully going into a NFL treatment program.

Remember when the Cowboys got rid of Quincy Carter? They had to make up a bunch of crap to get rid of him, they couldn't get rid of him just because he went into a NFL program.

Sully will be on the roster at least for the first day of camp, I think.

Patchick might know the legal ins and outs about this...

That's not entirely true. After Randy Moss went off in that SI or ESPN-Mag article last summer about how he smokes weed from time to time he claims he was tested by the league not long after.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

MO: The Colts were suspended by Dungy, or by the NFL?

There have been plenty of times when the NFL has waited for the court to reach a verdict, and said that they aren't gonna do anything until it comes out in court. Why would they do it differently this time?

We know from the Q. Carter situation that you can't release somebody just for being in the substance abuse program. That was the whole controversy that took place at the time. If the NFL has grounds to drug test Sully themselves, as you say, than he will likely be suspended before the season, if he's positive. What is the correct way for the Pats to cut him?

Some of the things you say don't seem to match up with how the NFL has handled the many dozens of criminal case that we see each year. When Sean Taylor assaults somebody, nothing bad happens to him by the NFL at all, because they wait until the case is resolved in court. The case is dismissed 99% of the time, and the player goes back to playing football.