It’s known that Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon will serve a four-game suspension to start the season for violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy. It’s not known what he specifically did to cause the suspension.
It’s safe to say that the suspension did not flow from Blackmon’s 2012 guilty plea to DUI. Even though Blackmon’s blood-alcohol concentration was measured at three times the legal limit of 0.08, that’s not the type of aggravating circumstance that will prompt the NFL to deviate from a fine under the substance-abuse policy in the amount of two game checks, not to exceed $50,000, for a first offense DUI.
Per a league source, the suspension came from something else, something not covered by the policy against performance-enhancing drugs, like Adderall. Under the substance-abuse policy, a suspension arises only after at least three violations of the policy against the use of recreational drugs or alcohol. In Blackmon’s case, it’s possible that he committed only two violations, since the DUI guilty plea likely put him in stage one of the substance-abuse program.
Either way, it’s clear that Blackmon’s rough year has continued well beyond the night on which he was driving a car with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.24 percent. And now the Jaguars have to decide whether to give him a second chance, again.