GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji is coming to the defense of his former teammate, Johnny Jolly, who was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday after violating his probation for a drug conviction.
"It's sad to see that someone with a serious addiction problem like that isn't able to get help when he's in need, as opposed to just being sent off to jail," Raji said Friday following practice.
Raji was a Packers rookie in 2009 when he played side-by-side on the line with Jolly that season.
Prior to the sentencing, the Associated Press reported that Jolly told State District Judge Denise Bradley, "I want to go to rehab to get help." According to the report, Jolly spent eight weeks in court-ordered rehab after his second arrest.
"We're a bit biased; that's one of my brothers that this happened to," Raji said. "We're not happy about it."
Jolly was facing charges of possessing a compound containing codeine. He also was charged with evidence tampering when he attempted to conceal the substance during a traffic stop.
"Jolly is a great guy," said Packers defensive lineman, Ryan Pickett, who played with Jolly for four seasons. "He struggled with some issues, had problems, but everybody on this team knows his heart and what kind of player he was and what kind of teammate he was."
Pickett added that the most difficult part of hearing the news on Jolly was the length of the prison sentence: six years.
"I was hoping it wouldn't be that," Pickett said. "I was hurt that it was that long. You're pulling for him. You want him to have another chance. To know the guy, he's not a bad person, he just has a bad problem. It kind of messed my day up yesterday."
Although Jolly was already indefinitely suspended by the NFL since the start of the 2010 season, many Packers still viewed him as a teammate.
"We're not going to abandon him," said linebacker Desmond Bishop, who played three seasons with Jolly. "He was part of the family. Once you're part of a family, you can't just get out. In my eyes, he'll always be a Packer and part of the family."
Jolly is 28 years old, and if there was any hope of him returning to the NFL in the future, Thursday's sentencing may have ended it.
"It's pretty sad," Bishop said. "Such a good player with so much potential to kind of just go down the drain. It's a tragedy. Hopefully his situation can open up the eyes for some other people. Hopefully some good comes out of it."
Green Bay drafted Jolly in the sixth round in 2006, and he played with the Packers from 2006-09. Due to his suspension from the league, Jolly was not allowed to be with the team during its Super Bowl run last season.
"He was devastated he couldn't be at the Super Bowl," Pickett said. "We saw him in Dallas (where Super Bowl XLV was played). He wasn't around the team, but we saw him out and spoke. He was hurting. He was devastated. The guy loves the game of football, loves the Packers."
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Original Story:
http://www.foxsportswisconsin.com/11/...
Original Story:
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November 17, 2011
The system needs to be changed. Some drugs need to be legalized to remove the penalty of a felony. Look, prohibition wasn't the answer, it created an underground economy and created Al Capone and the mob. Our government created organized crime and wasted millions of dollars in pursuit of people they made into criminals. Since it was illegal the turf wars killed thousands of people over the money illegal alcohol created. We are doing the same thing only now the corruption is more widespread and many more innocent people are being killed. Some of the blood is on the hands of those in government.