Ruling: Ex-player can become agent

Published Oct. 23, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

An arbitrator has ruled former college player Cleodis Floyd can become an NFL agent even though he was convicted of bank fraud.

The arbitrator ruled against an NFL Players Association decision to deny the agent application of the 29-year-old Floyd, who played at Colorado State and was convicted of bank fraud while in school, said his attorney, Darren Heitner of Miami.

Floyd acknowledged his troubled past, but since his conviction he has worked many jobs, performed charitable work, graduated from law school and passed the Washington state bar, Heitner said.

''The Cleodis Floyd of today is not the Cleodis Floyd of many years ago, and I am thankful that the arbitrator recognized that very important fact,'' Heitner said in a statement Wednesday.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah defended the union's method of screening applicants to become agents.

''We have to stand by and support the transparent and fair due process we have in place,'' Atallah said.