IRVING, Texas -- Suspended defensive tackle Tank Johnson
will be allowed to practice starting Friday, which will be his
first team session with the Dallas Cowboys since they signed him
last month.
Johnson still has two games left on his eight-game NFL
suspension for violating probation on a gun charge. Unless the
suspension is reduced by commissioner Roger Goodell, Johnson will
be eligible to play when the Cowboys play at the New York Giants on
Nov. 11.
"It will be good to get him out on the field and get him in the
meeting room too," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "All I know
is he's going to practice. I don't know when he's going to play,
or when he'll be able to play."
Johnson, who was released by the Chicago Bears after his
suspension, signed with the Cowboys last month. The Bears let him
go after he was picked up for speeding at 3:30 a.m. shortly after
he was suspended.
He has been able to work out individually at Valley Ranch and
meet with the team's player assistance staff, headed by Calvin
Hill. Until now, Johnson hasn't been able to work out with the team
or work with the coaching staff.
"He's a gregarious kind of guy," Phillips said. "He's ready
to play, wants to play and seems excited about it. He's a pretty
personable guy, so it's all positives as far as I'm concerned."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Goodell had given Johnson
permission to practice because the Cowboys have a bye week next
week and won't practice much. Aiello emphasized that the suspension
had not yet been lifted officially.
Johnson wasn't in the locker room when it was open to reporters
Thursday before practice.
Johnson, a second round pick by the Bears in 2004, started 10
games for Chicago as it went to the Super Bowl last season.
Last December, police searched his suburban Chicago home and found six
unregistered firearms, a violation of his probation on a charge
stemming from Johnson's 2005 arrest. That came after a Chicago
nightclub valet reported seeing Johnson with a handgun in his SUV.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
Two days after last December's raid, Willie B. Posey, Johnson's
bodyguard, was shot and killed in an early-morning fight while he
and Johnson were at a Chicago nightclub.
Johnson was suspended by the Bears for one game for being at the
club. But he played in the Super Bowl as the Chicago lost to
Indianapolis.
He eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor weapons charge
stemming from the December raid as part of a deal with prosecutors
that kept him from serving more time in jail. He was ordered to
serve 45 days for violating probation, which he served concurrently
with the sentence on the guilty plea.