NFL PREVIOUSLY CLEARED STARCAPS

We’ve picked up a little information regarding the specific arguments that could be made when the various players who were popped for Bumetanide present their appeals to the NFL. The players who are fighting four-game suspensions include Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams, Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jackson, and a trio of Saints: running back Deuce McAllister and defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith. One of the primary arguments will be that the NFL has three prior inquiries regarding the StarCaps product, and that the league in each case said that StarCaps contained no banned substances. As it turns out, StarCaps secretly contained Bumetanide, a diuretic that is now on the banned substances list. It’s our understanding that a similar argument has been used on several occasions in the past to avoid player suspensions. If so, then the well-known principle that players are responsible for that which is in their bodies has a fairly significant exception, and in our view it only seems fair that players would not be punished if they previously had been told by the NFL that the stuff they’re taking won’t trigger a violation of the rules.