Martavis Bryant has been reinstated by the NFL. The announcement came out on April 25, 2017. Of course, it did come with the tag “conditionally”. Still, Bryant was back on the team and was practicing at OTAs back in May. Everything was going perfectly for Bryant, who had sounded like he finally got his act together after two suspensions in each of the past two seasons.
Then, Bryant showed up to training camp. For some reason, unbeknownst to seemingly anyone, he has not been allowed to practice. Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, Ben Roethlisberger, and Bryant himself have been asked why Bryant is still, all of the sudden, technically suspended. None of them have a good answer, or even any answer, at this point. So what the heck is going on with Martavis Bryant?
What is Going on With Martavis Bryant?
The small caveat to his “conditional” reinstatement stated
“Bryant may join the Steelers at the training facility and participate in meetings, conditioning work, and similar activities. Once arrangements have been confirmed regarding Bryant’s clinical resources in Pittsburgh, he will be permitted to participate in all preseason activities, including practices and games.”
“Clinical resources” is somewhat of a loose term. However, one would assume that this would tie into Bryant needing therapy of some sort. Being that this is the only known condition of Bryant’s reinstatement, it begs the question as to whether or not Bryant has made these arrangements, or whether or not he is attending them.
Still, that does not answer why he was able to practice during OTAs. OTAs are organized team activities. It is technically an off-season program ran by the team. Training camp is a preseason program. Is the hold up an issue of verbiage and the idea that Bryant was reinstated for the off-season, but still has to meet his clinical standards to clear himself for the preseason? OTAs could fall under meetings, conditioning work, and similar activities. The issue is that all of these words have loose definitions, look no further than word “similar” in the statement. What defines similar? There is nothing specific out there stating why Bryant is not allowed to practice.
When Will He Be Cleared?
To make matters even worse, the head of the show, Roger Goodell is known for his lackadaisical, “I do things on my terms” dictatorship mentality. This is the NFL commissioner who had a witch hunt against the face of the game over potentially deflated footballs go on for over a year. This is the commissioner who gave the Steelers no timetable or heads up on when Bryant’s reinstatement would come, even as the team entered the NFL draft. Heck, at this point we are bound to assume that Bryant has sent in the paperwork required, and it is just sitting on Goodell’s desk. He’ll get to it when he is done denying the long term affects of concussions.
So what is going on with Bryant? Nobody knows. You could assume that it has to do with his clinical resources, but that is a mighty assumption. When is he going to be cleared? Again, nobody has any idea. We are now in the world where the NFL is run by a commissioner who has no self-awareness, let alone an awareness of his league.
The fact that Bryant does not appear to be worried, and that his quarterback is going to bat for him is a good sign that both believe Bryant has met his standards and should be on the field any day now. It is your move, Mr. Goodell.
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