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Saints rookie defensive end Carl Granderson is back with the team after receiving a two-week roster exemption.

Granderson's journey to the NFL hit a well-documented road block over the summer when a judge in Wyoming rejected a plea agreement in a sexual battery case and sentenced him July 11 to serve a six-month jail sentence.

After he spent 43 days in jail, though, another judge freed Granderson and sentenced him to supervised probation, which opened the door for his return.

“I’m thankful for my opportunity,” said Granderson, who made his first public comments Monday since rejoining the Saints over the weekend. “I’m just thankful for a second chance to get back out there and work as hard as I can to be on the team.”



Granderson said his biggest takeaway from his ordeal was learning lessons, but he also emphasized he has no desire to dwell on the past.

Instead, the rookie wants to move forward and focus on his career.

“At this point, I’m just focused on football,” Granderson said. “It’s just a lesson learned. I’m thankful for the opportunity I can have now to be back on the team, be back around my teammates and just move forward.”

The Saints have a two-week window to make a decision on Granderson.

Coach Sean Payton said during a Monday morning teleconference that Granderson is allowed to attend meetings and participate in practice during that span.

With the legal issues taken care of, the biggest concern now for the team now is getting Granderson back in football shape.

“We felt in the spring, we saw a young player that certainly we were excited to work with,” Payton said. “Obviously, these other challenges for him personally have taken precedent, as they should.

“In the meantime, those two weeks he will be allowed to train. He’s been away from football for a while, so a lot of that will be kind of getting back into football shape, getting his weight where he wants to be and then understanding what we’re trying to do.”

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jeanpierre

Sure would like to hear the details of what actually happened...

Beastmode

Stay ON the grid iron. OUT of grid steel.

SaintsBro

This article had a lot of information about his case, keep reading towards the bottom

https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/a...c7dcffc8c.html

From what I read, it sounds to me like the first judge sorta threw the book at him, gave him a harsh sentence, and the second judge was like, hold on a second, wait a minute, not so fast. The first judge also talked to a mental health professional that Granderson had retained in the case to help him, which is a big no-no. Imagine if a judge in a case privately picked up the phone and talked to the defendant's doctor off the record, about a defendant's mental state -- it's simply not done. It's grounds for an appeal, and it could get very messy for the first judge if this went forward to a higher court.

From what I've heard, it sounds like some very poor decisions were made by Granderson, to get himself into this mess. But from what info has been released, it doesn't sound to me like he actually did anything really heinously awful, that would warrant destroying his career and life. I don't like knucklehead players -- I would be the first one to throw him under the bus if there was video footage of him hitting a woman or beating somebody up in a bar or whatever -- but it sounds to me like this guy didn't deserve the maximum stiff sentence, especially when there were so many glaring problems with his case/trial, and the court in Wyoming wasn't being run correctly.

foreverfan

Rugby Saint II

This young man made a move on two women in his bed. It sounds like he didn't get aggressive and eventually took no for an answer. I'm not advocating making a woman say no twice but most good girls feel the need to say it once even if they're undressing themselves.

I teach women's self defense and No means No. You might try light non aggressive moves just to make sure but that is where any leniency stops!

Oh yeah, He looks like a good football player and we may have gotten lucky along with Granderson getting lucky ….just not that night.

The Dude

Is this dude any good?

dam1953

There is a big difference between. Please! Don't! Stop! and Please don't stop.