NFL fans all over America are looking forward to watching football in a couple of weeks.
More than 30 players will be watching, too, because they’re suspended.
The NFL enters the 2015 season with 34 players suspended as of Thursday night, according to Pro Football Talk. This list could grow before the season begins.
How much is too much? At what point do all these suspensions diminish the NFL’s star power?
Two Patriots and two Steelers are suspended for the NFL’s season opener on Sept. 10 at Gillette Stadium. There’s a chance Tom Brady could play depending on what happens in court, but there’s a strong possibility the NFL’s big kickoff on a Thursday-night stage will be without Brady and it definitely won’t feature Le’Veon Bell, who is suspended for two games for last year’s marijuana arrest.
ATLANTA, GA – DECEMBER 14: Le’Veon Bell #26 of the Pittsburgh Steelers stands on the field prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome on December 14, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount also is suspended for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, and up-and-coming Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant also will be on the sidelines after being hit with a four-game ban for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Bryant is appealing his suspension.
Bryant’s suspension is for marijuana use, according to ESPN.com. That means three of the four suspensions affecting the Steelers-Patriots game stem from marijuana violations.
Substance abuse, not necessarily marijuana in all cases, is the reason for 25 of the 34 current NFL suspensions. Six of the suspensions are for performance-enhancing drugs, which falls under a different set of rules.
These suspensions are alarming considering that last year the NFL eased several aspects of its substance abuse policy, even raising the threshold for a positive marijuana test.
Players are tested once between April 20 and Aug. 9 for “substances of abuse,” which includes marijuana and other drugs such as cocaine. If they test positive, they’re entered into an intervention program for no more than 90 days. If they test positive again or don’t adequately follow the program, they’re subject to “stage two,” which includes more frequent testing. A positive test at this point could trigger a suspension.
So it takes multiple positive tests to be suspended. According to former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker of Sports on Earth, players know when they’ll be tested as long as they’re not in any stage of the intervention program. Still, some players can’t beat the tests. Perhaps it’s because some players put recreational drug use ahead of their team.
Considering there will be nearly 1,700 players on NFL rosters when the season begins, 34 suspended players is just a speck of dust. Ten of those players are free agents and not currently on a team. The impact is magnified because as many as four of them will sit out the season opener at New England.
There’s not much the NFL can do, expect for possibly raising the threshold of marijuana testing to match that of baseball. Studies have linked marijuana to pain management, and football generally causes more pain than baseball.
Other than that, the only way the frequency of suspensions can be reduced is if players smarten up a little.
