Redskins offensive tackle Jordan Black has boasted this year that he put on 50 pounds to get back up to his playing weight of 310 and return to the NFL after missing the entire 2011 season. But an announcement from the Redskins today calls into question Black’s claims that he did it by drinking protein shakes and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The Redskins announced that Black has been suspended for the next four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Although the NFL doesn’t reveal which specific banned substance a suspended player tested positive for, when we’re talking about a player who openly discussed the importance of weight gain this year, it seems unlikely that he’ll use the Adderall excuse.
The 32-year-old Black didn’t play in the NFL after the Saints cut him at the end of the 2011 preseason, and when no other team signed him he figured his NFL career was over, so he said he made a conscious effort to lose weight in order to be healthier in retirement. But when the Redskins called, he said he felt the need to put on a lot of weight quickly so that he could play offensive line in the NFL again this year.
Whatever he did to put on that mass, it worked well enough that Black made the Redskins’ roster and has played in all 14 games this season. But now Black’s season is over.