MILWAUKEE -- Former Green Bay Packer defensive back Mossy Cade, who last October finished serving a prison sentence for second-degree sexual assault, will not be reinstated in the NFL this season, his attorney says.
Randy Rueckert told a Milwaukee newspaper (the Journal) that outgoing NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle several months ago told Cade he would not be able to play this season.
'Mossy was told he would not be welcome back, at least not this year. I think it was stronger than that. It's my impression that as long as Pete Rozelle is commissioner, he is not going to be able to play in the NFL,' he said.
Cade was paroled from a Wisconsin prison last Oct. 21 after serving 15 months for sexual assault in an incident at his De Pere home in 1986. Cade, 27, has been out of football since 1986 and the Packers released him after he got out of prison.
Cade and his attorneys have been waiting for a new commissioner to be named to see if they could persuade him to reinstate Cade.
The NFL had refused comment on the Cade case until Friday, the newspaper reported, when it confirmed Cade will not be reinstated this season.
Dick Maxwell, director of information for the National Football Conference, said Cade and Rozelle met several months ago in New York but he would not comment further.
Cade said he was disappointed.
'The decision not to play wasn't mine,' he told the paper from his home in Memphis, Tenn. 'I was optimistic I would play this year. No doubt about it. But there's a lot of red tape to go through. The decision not to play wasn't mine.'
Rueckert said the Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Diego Chargers had expressed some interest in Cade in the offseason.
