We are on day 22 since Aldon Smith’s one-year suspension was up. November 17 was the earliest he was eligible to be reinstated, but there hasn’t been a peep from commissioner Roger Goodell one way or the other.
The former All Pro pass rusher was suspended for a DUI arrest that was his third violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. And if that were all that he had done, we might have been watching him suited up in Silver & Black the past four games.
Unfortunately, a video popped up last June that appears to show him smoking pot, which complicated things. He went to rehab soon thereafter, but the damage was apparently done.
This week Smith was said to have requested a meeting with commissioner Goodell in the hopes of being finally reinstated. That meeting happened today according to sources close to Ian Rapoport.
#Raiders OLB Aldon Smith met with @NFL officials today, including Commissioner Roger Goodell, source said, vying for reinstatement.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 9, 2016
It has been my theory that Goodell’s intention was either to tack four games onto Smith’s one-year suspension or to wait until the offseason to reinstate him. If it’s the former — and that could also depend on how this meeting goes — we could see Smith back soon. If it’s the latter, the Raiders will be without him for their playoff run just as they’ve been without him all season long.
Smith signed a two-year deal this offseason, which would have him paid only for the games he is active and keeps him under contract through the 2017 season.
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