Patriots wide receiver Brian Tyms made the most of his chance to play in the team’s first preseason game, catching five passes for 119 yards and drawing a 34-yard pass interference penalty on another throw his way.
Tyms was not playing with the first team, but it was the kind of performance that could open up that possibility as the rest of the preseason unfolds for a Patriots team that’s somewhat unsettled when it comes to their wide receiver depth chart. Tyms’ case is hampered by the fact that he’s facing a four-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.
The league does not reveal the substance, but Tyms says it was Adderall.
“I’ve had a prescription for it since I was 9,” Tyms said, via CSNNE.com. “It costs money to get all that stuff situated. Money which I didn’t have to spend. It was my fault. I shoulda brought it to the NFL and said, ‘Hey, I take this from time to time before it got to that point.’ But it wasn’t like I’m using it as something to boost my ratings. I been taking it since I was 9. That and Ritalin. I can’t worry about that. I put that in God’s hands. I just come out and try to play to get on this team.”
Tyms will be able to continue to try to do that for the rest of the summer, but he’ll need to show the Patriots that he’ll be able to help the team enough once the suspension is up that they’ll stick with him through the first four weeks when he can’t practice with the club at all. A couple more preseason performances like the first one will go a long way toward making that case.