Jones, Henry first to hang from NFL gallows

Filed in archive NFL on April 10, 2007

The National Football League has stiffened its penalties for poorly-behaved players, and two are already hanging from the league's sturdy new gallows.

The NFL suspended Adam Pacman Jones for the entire 2007 NFL season. Jones, a Tennessee Titans defensive back, has multiple incidents involving police -- the most recent including felony charges. Jones was part of a fight and shooting at a Las Vegas night club, during the NBA All-Star weekend.

Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was arrested four times over a 14-month period for numerous offenses.

Jones and Henry are at the forefront of a crisis in the NFL. Many players have been arrested and jailed in recent years for incidents involving drugs, guns and sexual misconduct. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has made it his mission to clean up a league that seems to have surpassed the NBA as the bad-boy professional sports league.

The sanctions given to Adam Jones and Chris Henry are an excellent start for Goodell, who took over for Paul Tagliabue as league commissioner in August of 2006.

NFL players are celebrities, making millions of dollars to play a game. Sadly, they often become role models for America's youth. This may be a burden they don't want, and no one is saying guys like Jones and Henry have to visit schools and spend their off days reading to elementary students. They do, however, need to act like solid citizens.

With the new stringent NFL behavior policies Goodell has created, maybe now players will begin behaving more like well-paid public entertainers, rather than lawless jerks.

Well done Commissioner Goodell.