NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he remains “disappointed” with suspended Tennessee cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones’ decision making and that the player might need more time to prove his behavior has changed.
In an interview with The Tennessean following his annual state of the NFL address Friday in Phoenix, Goodell said continued incidents involving Jones have gotten his attention, and that the cornerback has not “demonstrated that he understands the message clearly and that he is making the correct decisions.”
“If he needs more time to understand what we expect of him, then I’ll accommodate that,” Goodell said.
Jones didn’t help himself by being in an Atlanta strip club Jan. 3, when an attorney accused him of punching her. She has since withdrawn a request for his arrest. No charges were filed.
“I am disappointed in that,” Goodell said. “I have often said that it is actions that speak louder than words, and that you control those actions.”
The NFL will review Jones’ status after the Pro Bowl.
“I don’t think it takes a huge leap of faith to understand that the commissioner is not going to be happy if you keep going back to places where you’ve had problems in the past,” said Manny Arora, an attorney for Jones.
“He shouldn’t have been there. It is our fault that we went there. Everybody understood what happened inside was way overblown and not true, but he shouldn’t have been there to begin with.”
A Tennessee judge dismissed two misdemeanor charges Thursday from an incident involving Jones on Aug. 25, 2006, in a Nashville suburb, leaving only one criminal charge still pending against him in Georgia from a February 2006 encounter with a police officer.
Las Vegas police named Jones as the person who incited a fight inside a strip club on Feb. 19, 2007, leading to a triple shooting that left one man paralyzed.
The Titans met with representatives of Jones earlier this week to begin deciding if they want to keep the player should he be reinstated, but reached no resolution.
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