New York Giants safety Michael Thomas, who is also vice president of the NFL executive board, believes the recent four-game suspension of wide receiver Golden Tate is proof that there are serious flaws — “gray areas” — in the league’s performance-enhancing drugs policy.
“I’m all for clarity,” Thomas told NJ Advance Media. “I’m all for making things more black and white, Instead of so much gray area. We’re pushing for that, as a union, on a lot of stuff.”
Tate has claimed his suspension stemmed from fertility treatments that were being taken in an effort to help his wife become pregnant, and that he made the NFL immediately aware of what had occurred once he realized.
However, Tate’s suspension is likely to be upheld given the NFL’s strict no tolerance policy.
Players are responsible for what is in their bodies and a positive test will not be excused because a player was unaware that he was taking a prohibited substance.
Thomas feels that portion of the policy could be loosened or, at the very worst, more strictly defined.
“Obviously you want to keep trying to improve it and figure out what are the special cases,” Thomas said. “Especially first-time cases. If someone has complied with everything as communicated, it’s still kind of no fault. But, I think there should be exceptions.”
Still, Thomas recognizes that players who are cheating will attempt to find loopholes, which is exactly why the policy reads as it currently does.
“For every case that’s like that, there’s going to be someone trying to find loopholes,” Thomas conceded. “Someone trying to find a way to get around it. That’s what sucks. That’s why the rules are the way they are.”
While he hopes Tate wins his appeal or at least has his suspension reduced — a decision that is still pending — Thomas doesn’t expect it to go that way.
“I hope that he wins his appeal,” Thomas said. “Especially in his case. But, it’s tough.”
