When the league suspended in 2008 five players who tested positive for a banned substance that had been secretly placed into an over-the-counter supplement known as StarCaps, one player who reportedly tested positive due to taking StarCaps wasn’t suspended.
The league omitted dfensive tackle Grady Jackson, then of the Falcons, pending further information.
In the early days of 2009 free agency, Jackson signed with the Lions.
On May 22 decision, a federal judge upheld the suspensions as to three of the players and referred statutory claims made by two Vikings players to a Minnesota state court.
On Friday, Detroit G.M. Martin Mayhew said that Commissioner Roger Goodell suggested that a decision would be made “well before” the season starts.
With the Lions’ first regular-season game exactly one month away, a final decision still has not been made.
The precise posture is that the suspension has been imposed, and that Jackson has exercised his appeal rights. Once Commissioner Roger Goodell issues a ruling, the suspension will become effective.