The league isn’t saying whether the men who tested positive for a banned diuretic that had been spiked into the supplement known as StarCaps will be suspended to start the 2011 season. Appearing last week on PFT Live, Vikings V.P. of player personnel Rick Spielman seemed to hint that a four-game suspension for defensive tackle Kevin Williams may not be as sure of a thing as the completion of the failed legal challenge to the suspension would suggest.
For his part, Kevin Williams seems to be ready to accept the punishment. “In my mind, I’m preparing to miss the four games,’' Williams told Peter King of SI.com. “It’d be a huge surprise if we got it ‘buddied’ out of the CBA, but that’s what I’m hoping.’'
That’s the only way that Kevin Williams, Saints defensive end Will Smith, and free-agent defensive tackle Pat Williams will avoid the suspensions. And until the NFL lets the men involved know where they stand, it remains at least possible that the new CBA resulted in the slate being wiped clean.