NFL Suspends Irvin for 5 Games

Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin, who last week pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession charges, has been suspended by the NFL for the first five games of the regular season.

The suspension, announced Wednesday, will cost Irvin more than $500,000, or fifty times the $10,000 fine he was assessed by the judge in his trial.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the severity of the penalty is in direct relation to Irvin’s standing as one of the league’s most recognized players. In a letter to Irvin notifying him of the fine, Tagliabue wrote:

“You serve as a highly visible symbol of the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL. As such, you are an unusually prominent example for good and for bad for young people. While that visibility affords you substantial benefits, financial and otherwise, it significantly increases and magnifies the negative and detrimental impact of your misconduct on the league, its teams, its players and its fans.”

Irvin, who earns $102,647 a game, will miss the Cowboys’ games against the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles.

Cowboy owner Jerry Jones said he spoke with Irvin, who was in Miami.

“He said, ‘I want to meet this heads up. I accept my responsibility. I was wrong and I’m going to pay the price,’ ” Jones said.

“He is clearly resolved to get this behind him. . . . He talked about his future and what he needs to do to get ready for his first game.

“He said he is ready to take his medicine.”

That first game would be Oct. 13, when the Cowboys are at home to Arizona.

The NFL’s action leaves the three-time Super Bowl champions without their top wide receiver for a significant portion of the season, but several Cowboy players said that what matters more is Irvin’s health, not Dallas’ prospects or the 111 passes he caught last season.

“My concerns never have been from a football perspective,” quarterback Troy Aikman said. “I was looking at it as how it affected Michael. I’ve never looked at it as how it will impact on our football team. I’m never looking and saying, ‘Boy, this is going to hurt our football team.’ I think that’s pretty shallow for an individual to even think about it.”

Safety Bill Bates said it was “hard to tell whether the decision was a fair one, but some of us expected he could be missing more games than just five.”

Nor did Jones say he was especially concerned by the loss of one player, no matter how talented, even though it leaves the Cowboys with only one experienced wide receiver, Kevin Williams.

Defensive back Deion Sanders has been practicing at the position.

“We all want to see Michael get his situation together and get help,” Jones said. “But from a purely football point of view, I feel good about where we are.”

Tagliabue denied that the severity of the suspension was in any way connected to what was perceived as the lenient sentence Irvin received from the court. In addition to the $10,000 fine, he was placed on four years’ probation and ordered to perform 800 hours of community service.

“Players are disciplined for their own substance abuse or drug-related misconduct,” Tagliabue said in his letter. “They are not disciplined for the misdeeds of others or because critics may view the justice system as lenient in drug cases or for other extraneous reasons.

“In my judgment, the impact of your involvement with illegal drugs . . . has had an extremely adverse impact on the league, its teams and players generally.

“The length of your suspension also reflects my judgment about the need, in light of some your recent statements, to reinforce for you the necessity of your compliance with the league’s drug policy.”’