NFL 2017 off-season thread

Close enough. I know he played in the secondary early in his college career, but he moved to linebacker. Teams have to project what he might do with the move to the secondary.

 

Great googly moogly did the Chiefs ever fuck up

 

@YankeeFan writing NFL script now?

Goodell against pot use; 'may not be healthy'

"Listen, you're ingesting smoke, so that's not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature. There are a lot of compounds in marijuana that may not be healthy for the players long-term. All of those things have to be considered.

"And it's not as simple as someone just wants to feel better after a game. We really want to help our players in that circumstance, but I want to make sure that the negative consequences aren't something that is going to be something that we'll be held accountable for some years down the road."

So just keep loading up on the prescription opioids, guys. Nothing can go wrong there.

 

LOL. How about just not playing a game that causes trauma to the brain and other body parts?

Then you can skip the weed and the pills.

 

It is not exactly realistic to expect Goodell to take that position, YF.

The league is in a bit of a tough spot on this one. They can't just go along with state law because then you would have different sets of rules for different teams. I think he is taking the right stance, but the justification is bullshit.

 

That would be terrible.

 

That pot is dangerous. Now hold still son, the team doctor is going to use a needle the length of a bratwurst to shoot you full of horse tranquilizer we had to lie our ass off about to get past DEA scrutiny.

 

Which is why the way Goodell justified it is bullshit, but as long as marijuana is illegal in some states and legal only for medical use in others, the current NFL policy does make some sense.

Of course, it once again seems as if the NFL is concerned about public perception, but disinterested in doing what is actually going to protect the players' health.

This is similar to the league's approach to protecting players from brain injuries. They will punish players for illegal hits to the head, but won't take any real action when teams violate league concussion protocols. Sure, they have rules against it and consequences built into those rules, but the consequences are a joke.

 

The federal government never legalized marijuana. So it is somewhat contradictory when people here argue that steroids always have been illegal but somehow marijuana use should be OK.

 

I don't think most of the players who smoke pot are using it as a painkiller for their football injuries.

 

Way back when I was covering the NFL, I talked to one early adopter who was doing just that.

I think you'd be surprised. There's a lot of info out there now about painkiller addiction. Guys know about that.

 

I'd bet the vast majority are doing it for fun and recreation. And probably started doing it long before they ever thought about painkiller addiction.