Johnny Jolly expected back with Packers this week
When Johnny Jolly applied for reinstatement to the NFL last summer, he said he was just hoping for a chance to play again.
Now, the rehabilitated defensive lineman appears close to getting just that. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Jolly is expected in Green Bay this week after the Packers started their voluntary offseason workout program. Jolly was suspended for nearly three years by the NFL for violation of the league’s personal conduct policy as he battled an addiction to codeine syrup.
Jolly is clean now and the Packers are willing to give the 30-year-old a shot even though nothing has been guaranteed and his salary has been slashed to the minimum of $715,000. He was an emerging player in the team’s 3-4 defense when his troubles arose. Maybe he’ll be able to fit in again.
“I think I have a great shot at going back to those guys,” Jolly told the NFP last summer. “They’re a great organization. The coaches are very good, the players are good. I know they have supported me 100 percent.
“I want to say that would be a dream come true, but I made it in the NFL before. So, I would say it would be like another dream. It would be a journey and going back to do the things I love and showing everybody you can make mistakes but it’s the way you correct the things you’ve done wrong. I want to make the Packers look good.”
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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune
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This story originally appeared on Nationalfootballpost.com
