The news that Texans receiver Will Fuller caught a six-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy came as news to many. Including apparently the Texans.
A Texans spokesperson told PFT that the team learned about Fuller’s suspension on Monday, from Fuller’s agent.
If true, it means that they didn’t know when negotiating with other teams (primarily the Packers) regarding a potential trade through the deadline that arrived four weeks ago. It also means that the Texans didn’t know about it before recently cutting receiver Kenny Stills.
With Stills clearing waivers, the Texans most likely will be paying the balance of his salary as termination pay, anyway. They could have kept him, if they’d known a need was arising at the position.
The Texans added that they are still awaiting official notice from the league. Fuller publicly disclosed the positive result and ensuing suspension on Monday.
It’s possible that Fuller recently received notice of a positive test, and that he opted to not appeal the decision in order to serve five of the six games this year, reducing the number of games he’d have to serve after signing his next contract. He’s currently in the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, and missing the next five games will cost him $2.98 million in salary.