Poston Suspended Indefinitely...

[Angry Pope]

NFLPA suspends agent Poston indefinitely

John Clayton




The NFL Players Association notified the NFL that agent Carl Poston has been suspended indefinitely.


The league office officially informed 32 teams in a memo that Poston can't be involved in negotiations for any player, nor can he be an adviser on any deals. The term of the suspension was "until further notice." It was unclear why the union termed the suspension "until further notice" when the original length was two years.


Poston filed suit in U.S. District Court in New York claiming his two-year suspension should be overturned. Congress was also inquiring about the NFLPA's agent certification process and how it related to Poston.


An eight-member NFLPA disciplinary board recommended a suspension when it claimed Poston had been negligent in negotiating a contract for former Redskin LaVar Arrington. The union claimed Poston signed the contract without ensuring it had a $6.5 million bonus clause that had been agreed upon.


Previous legal challenges of agent certification have been upheld at least two times in previous court cases. It is not known how the House of Representatives inquiry will affect the union's decision.


Poston recently signed cornerback Ty Law to a five-year, $31 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.

 

[Seraph24]

lol...i thought it said Porter for a sec.

 

[Crossbones]

lol...i thought it said Porter for a sec.

So did I. Bwahahaha.

 

[Angry Pope]

POSTON SUSPENDED TWO YEARS, NOT INDEFINITELY

Contrary to a memo sent on Wednesday by the league office to the 32 NFL teams explaining that the NFLPA has suspended agent Carl Poston indefinitely, NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen tells us that Poston has been suspended for two years, effective immediately.

Berthelsen has forwarded to us a copy of his July 25, 2006 letter advising Poston of the action. Berthelsen's letter outlines in convincing (in our view) detail Poston's attempts to delay the appeal process that Poston himself initiated after the NFLPA's disciplinary committee previously suspended him for two years due to his actions in connection with the December 2003 contract extension signed by linebacker LaVar Arrington.

The key here is that the most recent action is a separate two-year suspension, which means that Poston could now be barred from representing NFL players for up to four years.

Poston has, in the opinion of the NFLPA, delayed the arbitration via the firing and hiring of lawyers, attempting to persuade Congress to intervene based on allegations that the efforts to discipline Poston were motivated by race and/or by the manipulation of the NFLPA by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, and offering up flimsy arguments to obtain a postponement of the arbitration hearing that finally had been scheduled for July 24 and 25.

Berthelsen's letter explains that Congressman Howard Coble of North Carolina called NFLPA president Troy Vincent last week in an effort to secure a postponement on Poston's behalf, and that Coble backed off after reading the union's response to the June 30, 2006 letter from Representatives Henry Hyde and Sheila Jackson-Lee to NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, which represented a separate attempt to get the union to abandon its efforts to discipline Poston.

The end result is a two-year suspension imposed right now, with Poston having the right to an expedited appeal of the suspension via the procedures set forth in the NFLPA regulations regarding agents. Such a protocol is expressly contemplated by Section 6(B) of the regulations, which permits an immediate suspension where the alleged misconduct is of a sufficiently serious nature.

And we agree with the tactic. Poston surely had planned to string out the process for as long as possible. Now, with a two-year suspension already imposed, Poston's best shot at getting the discipline overturned is by taking the matter to arbitration.

Way to go, NFLPA. Though we've disagreed with the union on certain issues in the past, and likely will disagree with the union on certain issues in the future, we think that the aggressive and decisive action taken was justified, and it provides a strong message to any agents who face disciplinary actions in the future.