Pryor in draft, to sit 5 games

Associated Press

Terrelle Pryor will have an opportunity to pursue his NFL dreams, with one significant caveat: The former Ohio State star must still pay for breaking NCAA rules while he was in college.

The league announced Thursday that Pryor is eligible for its supplemental draft, but he won’t be allowed to practice for the team that selects him until Week 6. Pryor gave up his final season with the Buckeyes following an investigation into the team’s memorabilia-for-cash scandal.

He would’ve had to sit out five games had he chosen to return to Ohio State.

“We accept that voluntarily,” Pryor’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said. “It’s a small price to pay for him to have a chance to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.”

A small price that could have broader consequences.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith worked together on the decision, Rosenhaus said. The league hopes it will dissuade future college players who run afoul of the NCAA from trying to use the NFL as a means of escaping punishment. But it also creates this dilemma: Does the NFL have the authority to suspend a player who doesn’t work for the NFL yet?

“I know players are concerned about the message this sends,” said Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, a member of the players’ executive committee. “Granted, making this ‘deal’ was an individual decision made by a player with counsel from his agent and lawyer. They have every right to make whatever deal they want for his personal future. That being said, the general concern now is how far into Pandora’s box this may go.”

The league informed clubs that Pryor “made decisions that undermine the integrity of the eligibility rules for the NFL draft.” Among those actions, the league said, were the hiring of an agent in violation of NCAA rules and a failure to cooperate with the investigation that cost Ohio State coach Jim Tressel his job. The NCAA committee on infractions is working to determine the school’s final penalties.

League spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted you can’t break the rules as Pryor did “and get a free pass into the NFL.”

Goodell did not confer with NCAA President Mark Emmert on the decision, said Bob Williams, a spokesman for the college sports governing body. The commissioner “called Mark to inform him of his intent. Nothing more,” Williams said.

The ruling was evidently good enough for Pryor, who tweeted: “God bless and thanks for support! Time to have a little fun!”

Pryor will have a pro day Saturday in Pittsburgh for all 32 NFL teams.