Interesting Update below...P
The intriguing rumor out of all of this is that the involved parties are looking in levying fines and suspensions once a player gets into the the NFL if he was found to have broken the rules in college.
Players who lose their college eligibility for receiving improper benefits from agents could face financial penalties upon entering the NFL draft under a proposal being considered by a panel of college and pro football officials seeking solutions to the problem.
The NCAA noted the possibility of "potential post-NCAA financial penalties" in a news release Monday announcing the collaborative discussions between professional and college football leaders, player agents, state law enforcement officials and NCAA executives.
The possibility of suspensions during a player's NFL rookie year -- as long as six to eight games -- is also being discussed, according to two sources involved in the collaborative discussions including representatives of the NFL, the NFLPA, the NCAA and the American Football Coaches Association.
Couple of things here...
I like the forward thinking. The possibility of punishing a player for breaking the rules is intriguing but I don't see it happening let alone realistic.
I want to know EXACTLY what the NFLPA thinks about this. This goes against protecting their members, why would they care if a player took money in college? They can't even represent these kids so why would they want them punished before they ever take a snap.
I have a hard time seeing the NFL legislating penalties to players whose infractions happened before they were members of NFL. I am not even sure if it is legal for them to try.
Even though it is against the rules there are many who will be uncomfortable with this...the NCAA makes millions off these kids and yet the kids barely get a decent stipend...and I don't want to hear about the free education, most of these kids could care less about it, most are too immature understand the value of the education in the first place.
Pete Carroll screamed at the top of his lungs to the NFL about this issue and no one listened. It wasn't until other schools started to get ensnared in other allegations...be it Austin at UNC, Darius at 'Bama, Green at UGA or Pouncey at UF. The NCAA didn't care when it was just 'SC in the cross hairs now with a number of schools having this problem its a national conspiracy that has caused a sense of urgency that now must be addressed.
More intriguing, there is still no mention of giving the school any relief if they didn't know what was going on like in the Bush mess.
Don't get me wrong, its about damn time that the NCAA, NFL and NFLPA finally see this as a legitimate issue but it has been brought up before...this is nothing new.
When it comes to the NCAA, NFL and NFLPA actually setting any rules in place I will remain skeptical...right now its just lip service.
UPDATE:
Just like I thought the NFLPA won't punish their new members...
"The NFLPA is opposed to any penalty being imposed upon a player in the NFL for conduct relating to the receipt of benefits in violation of NCAA rules while the player was in college," the NFLPA said in a statement. "However, we will continue to discuss with the NCAA and others issues relating to the conduct of agents certified by the NFLPA as they interact with NCAA players."
I am not surprised one bit...
And it is what I thought would happen.
Then there is a bit of a contradiction in the very next paragraph...
The executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, Grant Teaff, said Wednesday that post-NCAA penalties for college players who receive extra benefits at the end of their college careers is "on the table."
Really....
Not without the NFLPA backing it. On the table? It isn't even in the kitchen. Like I said there is NO WAY they would ever sell their new members...who pay a lot of dues, down the river. If the NFLPA wants to punish the agents involved that is their call but they won't hammer their members.
The AFCA has ZERO credibility here, but that is a whole other story. They won't punish their members who over sign players and then discard the ones they don't want.
Like I said, lip service...