Packers’ defensive end Johnny Jolly must have a horseshoe up his ass because the Houston Chronicle is reporting that he’ll avoid jail time despite his 2008 arrest for possession of at least 200 grams of codeine.

According to the Chronicle, Jolly agreed to a pretrial diversion last August, which is a form of probation that would have resulted in dismissed charges for his 2008 arrest had he stayed out of trouble for one year. But he didn’t stay out of trouble. In March, his Cadillac Escalade was pulled over because his tinted windows were too dark and he was arrested after police saw a bottle of codeine in his ride.

Due to the two charges, Jolly was facing up to 20 years in prison. Instead, he agreed to a plea deal and will now be placed on probation for five years, which starts with 90 days of mandatory drug treatment.

Now, I’m not a lawyer and I’m not familiar with court proceedings, so excuse my ignorance on the subject. But it seems to me that Jolly caught a break last August when he agreed to one-year probation. Yet, he got into trouble seven months later and again he gets probation? Hello?

It’s not like he killed anyone, but one would think that a judge would make this guy see the inside of a jail cell for at least 18 months to wake him up. Instead, he agrees to 90 days of therapy and more probation time. Good grief. I think it’s great that the judge wants to get Jolly help, but would anyone be surprised if gets nailed for a third time in the next 6-8 months? I sure wouldn’t.

Oh, and I guess since he avoided jail time that there’s a chance he’ll be able to play again in the NFL. Who says justice isn’t always served?

This Johnny Jolly is a model citizen, isn’t he? Dear, Lord.

According to CBS Houston report, the Packer defensive end was arrested for possession of Codeine on Friday morning. For those that were wondering, yes, this is the same Johnny Jolly who is already under a league-imposed suspension for his role in a Houston drug trade operation from 2006 through May of 2008.

The report states that Jolly was booked at 12:45AM early Friday morning after police discovered 600 grams of Codeine in his car following a routine traffic stop. Police also discovered another “unidentified substance,” which has been sent in for testing.

Call me crazy, but it’s probably not a great idea to put your NFL career in further jeopardy by riding around with 600 grams of Codeine in your car. Especially, and here’s the kicker, when you applied for reinstatement back in February of this year.

I think it’s safe to say that Johnny Ray Jolly, Jr.’s career is finished.

Usually when a team loses a starter for the entire season, it’s viewed as a massive problem. But even though the Packers lost defensive end Johnny Jolly for the entire 2010 season, they have options to replace him.

First the bad: Jolly has been suspended by the NFL for the entire 2010 season after reports surfaced in June that he’s a major player in the Houston drug game. What does that mean? Only that Jolly allegedly bought, sold, funded, transported and aided in the buying, selling, funding and transportation of illegal narcotics (including cocaine and marijuana) in Harris County from 2006 through May of 2008 according to Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Dude has been busy.

Now the good: The Packers obviously had been expecting to be without Jolly this season because they’ve already moved Ryan Pickett to Jolly’s position and drafted ends Mike Neal and C.J. Wilson last April. They also still have Justin Harrell on their roster, although at this point in his career, if the grounds crew at Lambeau Field left a sprinkler head poking out of the ground it would be more effective than the former 2007 first round pick.

Granted, none of the above options look better than Jolly on paper, but it’s not like he’s coming off a particularly strong ’09 season. A 3-4 defensive end’s biggest job is to occupy as many offensive linemen as he can in order to keep them off his linebackers and Jolly wasn’t very effective in that category last year. He also struggled a tad against the run, which is something Pickett might be more versed with seeing as how he’s used to playing inside.

While it’s never advantageous to lose a starter, give GM Ted Thompson credit for preparing for the worst when it came to Jolly’s situation and setting Mike McCarthy up with options at the defensive end position. It appears as though Jolly has spent his last days in Green Bay, so maybe Neal or Wilson will emerge as a long-term option, or at the very least, Pickett can help bridge the gap until Thompson can find someone else.