The big news of the day for the Arizona Cardinals was the suspension of cornerback Patrick Peterson for six games under the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
Initially, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported it was going to be an eight-game suspension that was reduced to six games when Peterson dropped his appeal.
However, the league’s policy doesn’t have an eight-game suspension for violations.
A six-game suspension means there was a combination of things wrong.
This is the language from the league’s policy found on the NFLPA site:
Players who violate the Policy will be subject to discipline by the Commissioner as outlined below.
Step One: The first time a Player violates this Policy by testing positive for a Prohibited Substance; attempting to substitute, dilute or adulterate a specimen; manipulating a test result; or by violation of Section 5, he will be suspended without pay pursuant to the following schedule:
Positive Test Result for Diuretic or Masking Agent — two regular and/or postseason games.
Positive Test Result for Stimulants or Anabolic Agent — four regular and/or
postseason games.Positive Test Result for a Prohibited Substance plus a Diuretic or Masking
Agent/Attempt to Substitute, Dilute or Adulterate a Specimen/Attempt to
Manipulate a Test Result/Violation of Section 5 — six regular and/or postseason games.
Based on the policy and the suspension, Peterson not only tested positive for a banned substance, he also tested positive for something typically used to try and cover up the substance.
That would suggest that Peterson knew what he was doing and was trying to get away with it.
Thus far, Peterson has not made a statement about the suspension.
It is a bad look. The normal cry of a player who gets suspended is to say he was unaware and made a mistake. It will be hard for Peterson to explain this away.
The best he will be able to do is own up to the mistake and try to move on from it.
After requesting a trade and refusing to participate in voluntary offseason work because of some beef with someone in the front office, now he got caught cheating and trying to cover it up.
He has a lot of work to bounce back from this.
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