Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon issued a statement when he was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, which was the only thing we heard on the topic from Blackmon until Monday.
That’s when he met with the media following the team’s first OTA of the year. Blackmon, who was arrested twice for DUI before signing his contract with the Jaguars, said that he has received a lot of support from the Jaguars since the suspension and that he’ll continue to lean on the team in the future.
Blackmon was asked whether he would go to rehab, a question he avoided. He did answer a direct question about whether he had a substance abuse problem.
“No, I would say I don’t,” Blackmon said, via the Jaguars website. “Out of this whole thing one of the main things I would say that I had a problem with was just making a poor decision, making a selfish decision at that and not thinking about the long-term of it and just thinking about at the time. If you want to ask if I have a problem? I have a problem with making a poor decision.”
It would seem that making at least three of those poor decisions under the influence of alcohol or other substances constitutes having a problem with substances. Whether or not that’s something that requires rehab is a decision for Blackmon to make, but there’s definitely a pattern here that’s troubling. Another poor decision of this ilk could lead to Blackmon hurting other people or himself, to say nothing of a professional football career that would be seriously compromised by the year-long suspension that would accompany another violation of the policy.