Bryant, Talib highlight darker side of NFL lockout

With the NFL’s Lockout about to enter its third week, the highly beleaguered battle between the players and owners has taken a few odd twists and turns while both sides are preparing for the preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for April 6.

When the owners locked out the players on March 12 one of the rules that was instated was that team officials, including owners, coaches and front-office personnel, were no longer allowed to have contact with players. The players are also unable to use the team’s facilities for rehabilitation or working out, leaving many of these ‘creatures of habit’ to find ways to keep themselves busy and/or in-shape on their own. For some players, like William “Tra” Thomas, who’s opening up a gym and allowing his active Philadelphia Eagles teammates to become personal trainers for the duration of the work stoppage, that’s a good thing.

For others, not so much.

Dez Bryant, the Dallas Cowboys petulant first-year wide receiver, has had a rough week. First, he was served a criminal trespass warning and banned from a Dallas-area mall after a disruption (i.e. profanity-laced tirade directed at an off-duty police officer) occurred when he and members of his entourage were told their pants were worn too low. Shortly thereafter, Bryant’s team, led by his adviser David Wells and Texas State Senator Royce West (D-Dallas), negotiated a return to the mall for Bryant, but that was just the beginning of his problems. On Monday, Bryant was hit with a lawsuit alleging that he has an unpaid tab of nearly $250,000 to a New York-based jeweler for 8 to 10 diamond-encrusted pieces. A day later, another lawsuit was discovered alleging that Bryant was going on similar spending binges in late 2008 and early 2009, you know, when he was still an ‘amateur’ athlete at Oklahoma State. In that suit, Eelow Hunt alleges that he gave Bryant $293,000 in jewelry, $26,000 in personal loans and $12,300 in sporting tickets after Wells had asked him to, citing that Wells “needed the jewelry, tickets and loan money to show Bryant that he could perform as his agent and to keep him from listening to other agents’ offers.” Approximately six hours later, a third lawsuit was discovered showing that his former landlords in Stillwater, Okla., are also suing Bryant for nonpayment of rent and damages. An expensive week, to say the least.

That being said, most NFL teams would actually prefer Bryant’s issues compared to that of Tampa Bay Cornerback Aqib Talib, who recently turned himself in on a felony arrest warrant and was released on $25,000 bond. The detainment stems from a March 21 incident in which it is alleged that Talib pulled out a gun while trying to pistol-whip Shannon Billings, who is Talib’s sister’s boyfriend. Talib is said to have dropped the gun, then Billings picked it up and flee on foot. It was during this time that Aqib’s mother, Okolo Talib (no, I’m not making this up), pulled out her own gun and fired three shots at Billings. Aqib then purportedly took the gun from his mother and fired two shots of his own. A family feud of epic proportions, undoubtedly.

And let’s not forget Green Bay Packers Defensive Tackle Johnny Jolly’s recent arrest for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. One would think that because he was suspended for the entirety of the Packers’ championship run, for exactly the same substance and criminal charge, he would be getting his act together this off-season, but it seems as though Jolly is intent on wearing orange next season, and we’re not talking about the Cincinnati Bengals.

The NFL offseason is a time when many teams are rightfully fearful for player’s safety, whether it’s Broncos Tackle Ryan Clady’s basketball injury leading up to the 2010 season, or Pittsburgh Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s helmet-free motorcycle accident (and other acts of the particularly disreputable sort, it’s clear to see why the NFL would want to have preventative measures and counseling available to players during the period where they’re furthest away from the NFL’s all-seeing eye.

With the lockout now in full effect, including shifting payment for the NFL’s drug and alcohol counseling program to the players and the short-term abolishment of the no-questions-asked driver service, the league is denying off-field support to the players at the very time when they may need it the most.

And that’s not a good thing for either side.

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