According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the league has yet to implement the four-games StarCaps suspensions of Saints defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith.
According to a league source, there’s a sense that the NFL might ultimately allow Grant and Smith to serve the suspensions consecutively, so that the Saints won’t be without both players for 25 percent of the season.
Grant and Smith were poised, were told, to join the Jay Glazer/Randy Couture MMA training regimen for the extent of their four-game suspensions when the Saints learned that they were not yet required to send the players to the reserve-suspended list.
The problem for the Saints (and, possibly, the Vikings) is that they had to cut players who might have replaced the suspended players, and that the replacements might be snatched up by someone else before the suspensions become effective.
The suspensions have been delayed by the coming decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. In that appeal, the league is challenging the decision to permit Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams to pursue legal theories under Minnesota law (and thus block their suspensions) — and the four players are challenging the decision that the suspensions are valid under the labor agreement between the NFL and the players union, based in part on the notion that the league knew StarCaps had been spiked with a banned substance but failed to specifically warn the players.
But while the league has been prevented from suspending the Vikings players until the pending state-court action is resolved or mooted, the league is not prohibited from suspending Grant and Smith. So the league’s decision not to promptly force them to the reserve/suspended list seems to bolster the notion that an alternative approach might be used in order to prevent an unfair outcome to the team.
That approach likely would be used for the Vikings, too — if they prefer eight games without half of the Williams Wall as opposed to four games with none of it.
Roger Goodell,
Please end this StarCaps thing. Obviously there was a problem with your system. Just drop it and start everyone off that’s involved with this with a clean slate. I find it very hard to believe that any player associated with this was trying to hide anything. The fact that this is still looming around is simply pathetic.
I think this is complete BS. They broke the rules therefore they should serve the suspension as quickly as possible.
NFL releases a list of acceptable supplements. If players choose to take something not on that list they do so at their own risk.
With salaries so high why would anyone take something not approved?
Some things are just not worth the risk.
Doubt they were trying to hide anything, but there is no excuse for stupidity.
Very bad precedent.
Bust them all at the same time as those viking scumbag losers.
Zangy, shutup.
The fact that this has gone as long as it has shows the NFL cannot win this one. Take the loss, fix the loophole and move on. Goodell is just beating a dead horse with this nonsense….
Just reduce it to a 2 gamer, close the loophole, make it clear that every player is responsible for what they put in their own body, and call it a day.
Personally, I am shocked that the NFL hasn’t come out with their own line of 100% screened/clean workout products – protein powder, ZMA, creatine powder, etc… that is produced in a clean environment, tested regularly, and carries the NFL seal of approval. Seems like a no brainer to me, and a new revenue stream to sell to fans everywhere.
# CanadianVikingFan says: September 5, 2009 10:50 PM
Zangy, shutup.
The fact that this has gone as long as it has shows the NFL cannot win this one. Take the loss, fix the loophole and move on. Goodell is just beating a dead horse with this nonsense….
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I don’t think you guys understand the issue. If I remember correctly, if the players win this issue, the policy on supplements & testing follows state laws and thus, is would be different for all the teams in different states.
Thus, the loophole would continue to exist if the players win.
Clearly , Tiki’s Barber is a marketing genius
and too clever for this site …
We’ll be looking in on him from time to time .
If the NFL is going to put out a list of banned substances, that list should be inclusive to *ALL* banned substances.
If a player takes something that is not on that list, does not list an ingredient that is on that list, I fail to see how it is the players fault in any way.
The way I see it, the players have done absolutely nothing wrong, the NFL knows it and is only trying to flex its muscles (obviously not working real well either)
Why would they make an exception for the Saint’s Dline situation? They shouldn’t do them any favors. If Grant and Smith broke the rules, they should serve there suspensions as if it was just a single player. You can’t try to help the team out. How is that fair to the other 32? The Saint’s can pull someone from the PS or sign a FA like everyone else has to.
That would not be fair. Jets have 2 guys suspended at the same time.
damn, tiki’s barber -
that is an awesome idea – i agree why haven’t they thought of that??!!…then they could go a step farther & market it w/ our favorite team’s labels…you’d better call somebody man…$$$
MkePackFan says:
September 5, 2009 11:19 PM
I don’t think you guys understand the issue. If I remember correctly, if the players win this issue, the policy on supplements & testing follows state laws and thus, is would be different for all the teams in different states.
Thus, the loophole would continue to exist if the players win.
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Someone from Wisconsin learned a new word, “Thus”
Well done! If you continue your progression of the English language you might be able to move to Minnesota!