NFL players and drugs have a long and complicated history. From half the Seahawks defense testing positive for PEDs to Josh Gordon being suspended extreme lengths of time for smoking marijuana, banned substances are as much a part of football as concussions and ambiguous catch rules.
Well, this year’s incoming draft class seems not to have gotten that memo.
For the first time in recent memory, NFL has notified all 32 teams that no player tested positive at February combine, per league sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 25, 2016
This unprecedented lack of positive tests means one of two things.
– It could mean that the players have found ways to beat drug tests. Maybe they’re using better masking agents or something.
– Or it could mean incoming NFL players don’t do drugs, or at least are wise enough to hold off in the weeks leading up to the test they’re warned about well in advance.
If it’s the latter, that cuts against the essence of the NFL Draft. What is April without fierce debate over whether some linebacker’s positive test for weed should drop him down teams’ draft boards, with the “drug use is a moral failing” crowd pitted against the “marijuana is good” crowd?
If bigtime college football players aren’t smoking pot anymore, what are they even doing? Studying? Or as PFT Commentator puts it…
@AdamSchefter NEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRDDDDDDD'''''''''SSSSSSSSSS
— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) April 25, 2016
In all seriousness, it’s good that players have smartened up. There’s no great excuse for failing a drug test you knew about weeks in advance when your entire future career is at stake.
Still, you know somewhere Ricky Williams is rolling his eyes.
