Odell Thurman to be suspended (1 Viewer)

[Donk711]

According to Lance McAlister (1530 AM Cincy), Odell Thurman will be suspended for the first 4 games of the 2006 season.

Sorry, no link

Perhaps why Marvin spent the supplemental pick on Brooks?

edited to fix year

 

[Frenchy Fuqua]

PFT confirms

POSTED 4:53 p.m. EDT, July 13, 2006THURMAN SUSPENDED FOR FOUR GAMESA league source tells us that Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman has been suspended four games for violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. The suspension helps to explain the team's surprising decision to select linebacker Ahmad Brooks in the third round of the Supplemental Draft. However, Brooks has had his own history with banned substances; he was once arrested for possession of marijuana, and Jason Cole reported for the Miami Herald last month that Brooks failed two drug tests while at the University of Virginia.As to Thurman, word is that he is making a conscientious effort to rectify the problem. We're told that he wants to comply with the rules and to play football. With that said, a four-game suspension is imposed only after a player has progressed through several levels of the substance abuse program, which means that the problem has been around for a while. Here's hoping that he can get on the right track, because he definitely has the talent to be a force in the NFL.The four-game suspension takes effect after the final preseason game on September 1 at Indianapolis. He'll miss games on September 10 at Kansas City, September 17 at home against the Browns, September 24 at Pittsburgh, and October 1 at home against the Patriots.

 

[Marc Levin]

great find, donk711

 

[Jene Bramel]

Cincinnati Enquirer link (and discussion too) in this IDP Forum post....

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...dpost&p=5146359

LB Thurman suspended for four games

By Mark Curnutte

Enquirer staff writer

Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman will be suspended for the first four games of the NFL season for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, a source close to the situation told the Enquirer this afternoon.

The source said it was not necessarily a positive drug test that led to Thurman’s suspension. A missed test also counts the same as a positive test.

Thurman, who turned 23 on July 9, was one of the NFL’s top defensive rookies in 2005. He had a team-high 148 tackles and tied for the team lead with four forced fumbles. He returned one of his five interceptions for a touchdown. He started 15 games at middle linebacker and did not start the 16th for violation of a team rule.

Questions about Thurman’s health or status for the upcoming season surfaced during the mandatory June mini-camp. He was excused for personal reasons, coach Marvin Lewis said at the time.

Questions about Thurman’s situation again surfaced today when the Bengals selected former University of Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks in the NFL’s Supplemental Draft. The Bengals also used their fifth-round pick in the April 29-30 draft on former Florida State linebacker A.J. Nicholson.

Depth is no problem at linebacker for the Bengals. They also have returning second-year pro David Pollack, their first-round pick in 2005. They also drafted a pair of linebackers in the third round in 2004, Caleb Miller and Landon Johnson. Johnson started 11 games at middle linebacker as a rookie in place of injured starter Nate Webster. Johnson led the Bengals with 133 tackles as a rookie and appears to be the likely candidate to start in place of Thurman during the first month.

Pollack figures to be the starter at strong-side linebacker, and veteran Brian Simmons is likely to again start at weak-side linebacker.

 

[Jiggyonthehut]

Wow, quite a find there. Was wondering myself if there was something more to the pick than met the eye. Any record of a past history? That note right there scares me if im a Bengals fan. Lots of question marks at the MLB position despite all the talent.

With that said, a four-game suspension is imposed only after a player has progressed through several levels of the substance abuse program, which means that the problem has been around for a while.

 

[GRIDIRON ASSASSIN]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

 

[cstu]

Wow, quite a find there. Was wondering myself if there was something more to the pick than met the eye. Any record of a past history? That note right there scares me if im a Bengals fan. Lots of question marks at the MLB position despite all the talent.

With that said, a four-game suspension is imposed only after a player has progressed through several levels of the substance abuse program, which means that the problem has been around for a while.

IIRC it was his character issues that kept him out of the 1st round.

 

[cstu]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

 

[Banger]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

that seems to be their general strategy as evidenced with Henry, Thurman and a number of other picks. All these guys were passed by other teams over knowing they had talent, now fast forward a year and surprise, surprise, there are arrests, suspensions....

 

[diesel7982]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

Its that kind of attitude that gets your team filled with a bunch of criminals and ne'er-do-wells that never live up to their potential.

 

[Pick]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

Its that kind of attitude that gets your team filled with a bunch of criminals and ne'er-do-wells that never live up to their potential.

Ya, look at Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis. A couple of big-time criminals that never amounted to anything. CANCERS!!!

 

[Sabertooth]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

What makes you so sure they won't be picking near the front of the round. The wheels seem to be falling off the Bengals already.

 

[Sabertooth]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

Its that kind of attitude that gets your team filled with a bunch of criminals and ne'er-do-wells that never live up to their potential.

Ya, look at Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis. A couple of big-time criminals that never amounted to anything. CANCERS!!!

Ray Lewis never had any character issues when he got selected as I recall. Also Jamal Lewis, outside of his 1 good season, hasn't been worthy of a top 5 selection IMHO. He's been ok, but not nearly worthy of that draft status.

 

[diesel7982]

The hits just keep on coming for the Bengals since the end of the regular season.

Palmer goes down.

Henry gets hurt and then arrested multiple times.

Kitna bails out to Motown.

Their draft class is loaded with bones, thugs and disharmony.

Odell Thurman gets suspended.

....and then they just drafted another nut-job in the supplemental draft today - burning up next year's 3rd round pick.

Brooks is worth risking a 3rd round pick to get, problems and all. The guy has top 15 talent and the Bengals should have a pick near the bottom of the 3rd round.

Its that kind of attitude that gets your team filled with a bunch of criminals and ne'er-do-wells that never live up to their potential.

Ya, look at Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis. A couple of big-time criminals that never amounted to anything. CANCERS!!!

Ray Lewis never had any character issues when he got selected as I recall. Also Jamal Lewis, outside of his 1 good season, hasn't been worthy of a top 5 selection IMHO. He's been ok, but not nearly worthy of that draft status.

Silly post by PICK. I give Ray as much crap as anyone, but besides the one incident in ATL, he hasnt shown any real problems, and has been an inspirational leader to that team. There were no character problems on him in college as I recall.Jamal Lewis? Congrats, he has one 2000 yard season, and one good rookie year where he played behind arguably the best OL in the NFL that year and the arguably the best defense ever. Would the results of their SB year been different if it were Priest running the ball? Did Jamal's 2000 yard season do anything for the Ravens? Did it help them more than his incarceration and subsequent crappy year last year hurt them?

Lewis now has a felony drug record, and is one toke away from a year's suspension. Yeah, thats good. I want a bunch of players like that. Now that I say that, Im reminded that Marvin Lewis was there in Balt with Jamal. Hmmm....

 

[Pick]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

 

[Sabertooth]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

 

[Pick]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

I failed to see the validity of your post. The production of Jamal is irrelevant. And whether Ray manifested his character at draft time or down the road is equally irrelevant. The point is that you can find a slew of bad characters on any team. Using the issue of character to explain past, present, or future success is silly.Sheep on!

 

[GRIDIRON ASSASSIN]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

Ya... really.Didn't they win a flippin' Super Bowl!

The team formerly in Baltimore has yet to achieve that with some of the 'good guys'. (Although they have their share of nut jobs playing DB, a QB that layed his tea bag on a female team manager, and allegedly Harrison had some of his entourage take care of somebody at the Pro Bowl)

There comes a time when the Bengals have to send a message - by getting rid of these nut jobs, and to stop drafting them.

 

[Pick]

There comes a time when the Bengals have to send a message - by getting rid of these nut jobs, and to stop drafting them.

 

[gildawg]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys.  Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

I failed to see the validity of your post. The production of Jamal is irrelevant. And whether Ray manifested his character at draft time or down the road is equally irrelevant. The point is that you can find a slew of bad characters on any team. Using the issue of character to explain past, present, or future success is silly.Sheep on!

Yes you can find bacd characters on every team, but can you find a team that has drafted 5 bad characters, knowing that they were bad characters, in two (3 if you want to say the supplemental) drafts? There is a difference in a guy being trouble after he was drafted, Santonio Holmes, or after a team picked him up via free agency, Rueben Droughns, but when the characters have rap sheets and you know this, and within a monnth to a year it catches up to you, something needs to change. What kills me is here in Bengals land, it's okay for a guy to do drugs (Henry/Thurman/Brooks), or rob somebody (Nicholson) or beat a woman (Rucker) as long as it helps you win but if a player complains about losing all the time and he is the only talented player on the team he gets run out of town (Dillon).

 

[T Man]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys.  Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

I failed to see the validity of your post. The production of Jamal is irrelevant. And whether Ray manifested his character at draft time or down the road is equally irrelevant. The point is that you can find a slew of bad characters on any team. Using the issue of character to explain past, present, or future success is silly.Sheep on!

I disagree. The fact is that the Bengals have gone out of their way to draft persons with questionable character. If these come back to bite them, then they have noone to blame but themselves.If a person who for 21 years appears to have been of good character, and then something happens then the team cannot be blamed.

As for those saying you can draft thugs, the answer is yes. But how much will they help if they are suspended and unable to play. What affect will they have on the locker room. In Jamal's case, he was a rookie with other vets. With the Bengals, the team is young. Cincy is not exactly the hoppinest town, and players may tend to clique together and get in trouble.

 

[GRIDIRON ASSASSIN]

There comes a time when the Bengals have to send a message - by getting rid of these nut jobs, and to stop drafting them.

Then again, it prevents Jerry Angelo from signing them.

 

[Pick]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

I failed to see the validity of your post. The production of Jamal is irrelevant. And whether Ray manifested his character at draft time or down the road is equally irrelevant. The point is that you can find a slew of bad characters on any team. Using the issue of character to explain past, present, or future success is silly.Sheep on!

Yes you can find bacd characters on every team, but can you find a team that has drafted 5 bad characters, knowing that they were bad characters, in two (3 if you want to say the supplemental) drafts? There is a difference in a guy being trouble after he was drafted, Santonio Holmes, or after a team picked him up via free agency, Rueben Droughns, but when the characters have rap sheets and you know this, and within a monnth to a year it catches up to you, something needs to change. What kills me is here in Bengals land, it's okay for a guy to do drugs (Henry/Thurman/Brooks), or rob somebody (Nicholson) or beat a woman (Rucker) as long as it helps you win but if a player complains about losing all the time and he is the only talented player on the team he gets run out of town (Dillon).

Ya, just look at the Portland Jailblazers.

 

[Pick]

Ya, the Ravens won in spite of those guys. Just amazing!

Did you even read my post. Ray Lewis is a bad example. Jamal was 1 player that was young and on a team full of veterans.

I failed to see the validity of your post. The production of Jamal is irrelevant. And whether Ray manifested his character at draft time or down the road is equally irrelevant. The point is that you can find a slew of bad characters on any team. Using the issue of character to explain past, present, or future success is silly.Sheep on!

I disagree. The fact is that the Bengals have gone out of their way to draft persons with questionable character. If these come back to bite them, then they have noone to blame but themselves.If a person who for 21 years appears to have been of good character, and then something happens then the team cannot be blamed.

As for those saying you can draft thugs, the answer is yes. But how much will they help if they are suspended and unable to play. What affect will they have on the locker room. In Jamal's case, he was a rookie with other vets. With the Bengals, the team is young. Cincy is not exactly the hoppinest town, and players may tend to clique together and get in trouble.

Yes, a whole crew of thugs is a bad thing. But it is very possible to win with some. And I doubt any has won without some thugs here and there.

 

[Big Papi]

[speculation]

There was a caller into Lance's show today on 1530 Homer that seemed to incinuate that he had inside knowledge on the situation. He stated that Thurman was fighting a meth addiction. No clue if it's true or not, but it's just something to keep an eye on.[/speculation]

I didn't see it talked about much here, but if Thurman gets suspended for 4 games, that means it's a 2nd violation!

Any predictions on the next Bengal to fall?

If I had to guess, I'd say Rudi - I've heard stories from folks about how he, Odell, and Henry go out together frequently in Newport.

 

[diesel7982]

[speculation]

There was a caller into Lance's show today on 1530 Homer that seemed to incinuate that he had inside knowledge on the situation. He stated that Thurman was fighting a meth addiction. No clue if it's true or not, but it's just something to keep an eye on.[/speculation]

I didn't see it talked about much here, but if Thurman gets suspended for 4 games, that means it's a 2nd violation!

Any predictions on the next Bengal to fall?

If I had to guess, I'd say Rudi - I've heard stories from folks about how he, Odell, and Henry go out together frequently in Newport.

Id bet Brooks can beat Rudi to the police station.

 

[jurb26]

Jamal Lewis numbers for career:

| Rushing | Receiving |+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+| Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+| 2000 bal | 16 | 309 1364 4.4 6 | 27 296 11.0 0 || 2002 bal | 16 | 308 1327 4.3 6 | 47 442 9.4 1 || 2003 bal | 16 | 387 2066 5.3 14 | 26 205 7.9 0 || 2004 bal | 12 | 235 1006 4.3 7 | 10 116 11.6 0 || 2005 bal | 15 | 269 906 3.4 3 | 32 191 6.0 1I'm failing to see the bust that so many are trying to portray here. This is a very good and talented RB. He has had some issues with both the law and health that have prevented him from reaching his full potential consistently, but really it has only been last year that was a disapointment IMO. As for Cincy, I'll just say I'm rather glad right now that PItt gets to play them in week 3.

 

[SoFresh&SoClean]

It's really been a rough off-season. I'm pretty ashamed of those who have made such poor decisions. The only thing that's keeping me going is Carson's steady improvement and the Brooks pickup. I think he'll be a huge steal down the road and hopefully we can knock some sense into him before he pulls a Henry. Odell's suspension is a huge blow do to the toughness of the first four games. We got a quick start last season and without him against such stiff competition the beginning is looking even that much tougher. Despite all the bad things happening I'm still hopeful and looking forward to the season.

 

[diesel7982]

It's really been a rough off-season. I'm pretty ashamed of those who have made such poor decisions. The only thing that's keeping me going is Carson's steady improvement and the Brooks pickup. I think he'll be a huge steal down the road and hopefully we can knock some sense into him before he pulls a Henry. Odell's suspension is a huge blow do to the toughness of the first four games. We got a quick start last season and without him against such stiff competition the beginning is looking even that much tougher. Despite all the bad things happening I'm still hopeful and looking forward to the season.

 

[SoFresh&SoClean]

It's really been a rough off-season.  I'm pretty ashamed of those who have made such poor decisions.  The only thing that's keeping me going is Carson's steady improvement and the Brooks pickup.  I think he'll be a huge steal down the road and hopefully we can knock some sense into him before he pulls a Henry.  Odell's suspension is a huge blow do to the toughness of the first four games.  We got a quick start last season and without him against such stiff competition the beginning is looking even that much tougher.  Despite all the bad things happening I'm still hopeful and looking forward to the season.

I think he's worth it. It could not pan out, but they aren't giving up a lot in the end. Low risk, high reward IMO.