Quote:It all comes down to value.  Blackmon is "tainted goods" and the risk isn't really worth the reward for many of the teams right now.  I may be wrong, but I think that even IF he does get reinstated, one more "incident" could get him banned for life.  If I was a General Manager I don't think that I would want to risk that, especially given the information that we have at this point.

 

Blackmon is tainted goods, but he's also a guy who hasn't lifted a finger to contact members of the team, and he hasn't given any indication that he's going to apply for reinstatement. 

 

I don't think there's really a banned for life category in the NFLPA.  The closest thing is indefinitely, which is where we're at currently.  If he gets dinged again, it's another situation like the one we're in, and how many more opportunities are you going to give a guy?  I think the team has been as generous as they can be with him.  He's on his final thread. 

 

Quote:Unlike you, I saw Soward first hand and live in the stadium.

 

Soward was an interesting guy, but he wasn't as talented as Blackmon in any way except getting to the bottom of a bottle.  Regardless, the talent of either player means nothing.  They squandered it over an addiction.  At this point, my hope for Blackmon is that he finds a way to get himself cleaned up before he winds up a real tragedy and there are no opportunities to come back in life.

---