Buccaneers cornerback Eric Wright has returned after a serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy regarding steroids and related substances. And he has offered up an excuse that best can be described as, “The dog ate my paperwork.”
Specifically, Wright told reporters on Tuesday that a letter reflecting a therapeutic use exemption was sent to the NFL for approval and was never filed, via JoeBucsFan.com.
The website doesn’t have a direct quote from Wright, but that’s the gist of it. And if that’s what was said it makes no sense. Either there was a therapeutic use exemption or there wasn’t. It sounds like Wright is saying that the request for an exemption was sent and that for whatever reason it wasn’t acted upon.
It’s another example of one of the biggest flaws in the league’s PED policy. The player who was been suspended can say whatever he wants and the NFL can say nothing in response.
So there’s no way of knowing whether Wright is telling the truth, unless someone leaks the truth to the media -- at the risk of incurring the $500,000 fine that goes along with it.
Unless the dog eats that piece of paper, too.