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Linebacker has chance to be reinstated
Bengals' coach Marvin Lewis said that suspended player Odell Thurman could have a shot at returning to the squad.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
CINCINNATI — For suspended Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman, a window of opportunity will either open or get slammed shut.
Today marks the NFL's target date for ruling on
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Thurman's application for reinstatement.
"We're hoping to hear (from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell) in the next day or two," said John J. Michels, Thurman's agent.
The league suspended Thurman for the first four games of 2006 after he skipped a drug test. The suspension was extended to a full season following his arrest on a drunken driving charge last September.
Thurman pleaded no contest to the charge in February, and a judge suspended all but six days of a 90-day sentence and ordered Thurman to serve those six days at a treatment center.
Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said on WLW radio in May that Thurman would get a chance to return to the squad this season if he's reinstated.
"He'll have had to have really followed the very strict NFL guidelines in order to get to that point, and then, obviously, if he is reinstated, to go forward," Lewis said at the time. "If that happens, he'll have an opportunity. He's learned quite a bit about life, I'd say."
Thurman's bid for reinstatement was further muddied by an incident in June in his hometown of Monticello, Ga. Two Georgia men accused Thurman of kicking and hitting them at a party, but they dropped their complaint.
