NFL makes it official: Cowboys CB Jones reinstated
editor1 |Nov 21,2008
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NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The NFL on Friday finally acknowledged what
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been saying for two days:
Adam "Pacman" Jones officially has been reinstated by the
league.
Although Jerry Jones announced his troubled cornerback was
reinstated on Wednesday, the league had withheld comment and
refused to confirm it until releasing a statement on the matter
Friday night.
"Commissioner Roger Goodell notified the Dallas Cowboys today
that Adam Jones may participate in organized team activities,
including practice, beginning on Monday, November 24," the
statement said. "Jones will be fully reinstated for the Cowboys'
game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, December 7 if he
avoids any further incidents and fully complies with each and
every condition that has been established for him.
"Commissioner Goodell's decision was based on the
recommendations of clinical experts."
Adam Jones was suspended on October 14, one week after his
latest off-the-field incident - an altercation with his
bodyguard at a Dallas-area hotel.
That incident came just seven weeks after he was reinstated by
Goodell following a 17-month suspension that caused him to miss
the entire 2007 season.
Since alcohol was involved in the October incident, Jones'
actions violated terms of his previous reinstatement.
Goodell had suspended Jones for a minimum of four games and said
he would determine the final length of the ban following the
Cowboys' Week 11 game against the Washington Redskins.
A history of legal problems - including six arrests - has
plagued Jones since entering the league as a first-round draft
choice in 2005.
The most serious incident took place at a Las Vegas strip club
in February 2007 during the NBA's All-Star Weekend, when a
disturbance led to the shooting of a bouncer who became
paralyzed from his wounds.
Jones accepted a plea deal, pleading no contest to a single
charge of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct, a
misdemeanor. He was given a suspended one-year prison sentence
and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season for multiple
violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy.
He was reinstated by the league on August 26 - four months after
the Cowboys acquired him in a trade with the Tennessee Titans.
However, following the fracas with his bodyguard at a downtown
hotel in Dallas, Jones earned another suspension from Goodell,
who called the cornerback's behavior "the continuation of a
disturbing pattern of behavior and clearly inconsistent with the
conditions I set for your continued participation in the NFL."
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