In a four-hour meeting that occurred on Wednesday, the NFL and NFLPA finalized the arrangements for an upcoming HGH population study.
Per a source with knowledge of the discussions, “some progress” was made regarding full-blown HGH testing.
It’s unclear how much more progress will be required to get HGH testing in place. Already, nearly two years have passed since the NFL and NFLPA agreed generally to implement HGH testing.
One of the issues will be paying for the tests. As one league source explained it, HGH testing is “expensive.” But it’s clear that the NFL wants it, and it’s looking more than ever like the league is going to get it.
If, of course, a deal can be reached with the NFLPA. For now, the only agreement that has been reached entails drawing blood from every NFL player to determine naturally-occurring HGH levels.
In this regard, the stream of players publicly welcoming HGH testing actually helps the league more than the NFLPA, since it creates the impression that testing is inevitable, making it harder for the union to walk away if they don’t get everything they want in exchange for consenting to a testing protocol.