Browns safety Jabrill Peppers met with reporters at the team’s rookie minicamp on Friday to deny allegations of drug use leveled against him recently, but he didn’t take part in the team’s practice.
A team spokesman said, via multiple reports, that Peppers did not take part in practice because he has not signed a participation agreement on the advice of his agent. Those agreements are designed to provide some protection for players who have yet to sign contracts in case of injury and the other Browns draft picks signed them, but coach Hue Jackson didn’t sound overly concerned about Peppers’ choice when he met the media.
“I think there’s one of these agreements -- participation agreements -- that need to be signed,” Jackson said. “We’re in the process of getting that done. Those things happen, they happen around the league. I think we’ll get that squared away.”
Jackson said Peppers has been in meetings and that he’s confident they’ll be able to “get him up to speed” despite his absence from the field on Friday.