A press release went out announcing that Odell Thurman was given permission by the league allowing him to "train and work out at the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium facilities" while awaiting his actual reinstatement.
"We see it as a positive," agent Safarrah Lawson said Saturday in a phone interview. "It's an opportunity to get reacclimated with the team, to work with the strength and conditioning staff in preparation, hopefully, for minicamp and training camp."
[AP via USA Today]
If punishments truly fit the crime, then Odell Thurman is a case of being black-balled in an effort by the Chancellor to crack down on the league's conduct problems. He was suspended four games for missing a drug test, then suspended for the remainder of 2006 and all of 2007 after being charged with a DUI. We all understand and accepted 2006. But denying reinstatement for the linebacker in 2007 shocked a lot of us. Think he'll return in 2008? Think he'll be effective?
Thurman cleared for workouts [Bengals.com]