The Patriots’ new tight end, Ben Watson, won’t be able to suit up right away. The veteran, who recently came out of retirement to join New England, announced in a Facebook post that he’ll be suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season, per Mike Reiss of ESPN (Twitter link).
In the post, Watson explains that he thought for sure he was retiring for good after the 2018 season, so he wasn’t quite as careful with the treatment he received. He was given Bio Identical Testosterone Cypionate by a doctor, which is banned by the league. Only after he made the decision to return to the league did he realize the implications, and he ended up failing a drug test.
While it’s obviously not a welcome development, the news isn’t blindsiding the Patriots. Watson says in his post that he discussed the failed drug test with teams before signing, so New England was prepared for this suspension. Watson won’t be appealing the ban, as he writes that he wants to”respect the regulations that have been collectively bargained to promote fairness on the field of play and accept the discipline associated with my infraction.”
While the Patriots should be just fine in the first month of the season without him, it will leave them quite thin once again at tight end. Rob Gronkowski‘s retirement this offseason left them with very few proven options at the position, although they have signed a few guys like Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Matt LaCosse.
Watson is 38 now but he remained reliable in 2018, appearing in all 16 games for the Saints. He finished the season with 35 catches for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Just a few years ago he was a huge part of the Saints’ offense and racked up 825 yards and six touchdowns, so he’s a capable receiver. Just yesterday we heard that Watson only considered coming out of retirement for the Patriots and the Saints, despite interest from at least a handful of teams.
Whaaaaaaat? But he’s a Christian and Fox news contributor. No way he would cheat!!!!!
He didnt think he was cheating when he did it because he thought he was retired. He came back unexpectedly and was honest about everything he’s done. He wasnt trying to undermine the system and he still isnt. Relax
Nice job Begamin. Tank obviously has an agenda and ignores the facts. Do people have to make everything political these days?
Well that sounds great if you believe his story. I’ve seen enough to not believe anyone.
I don’t believe you.
I’m with you. Used to give guys the benefit of the doubt, but now I see tons of MLB players with “social anxiety.”
People laughed at Jose Canseco when he said that the number of players using steroids was probably 75-80%. Turns out he was closer to the truth than anybody thought.
You see what these guys do. You see 300lbs. guys running as fast as Olympic Sprinters, bench pressing houses, and breaking bones and tearing muscles apart and coming back in weeks. Something that would take a normal person not using something “extra” years to come back from.
“I’ve seen enough to not believe anyone.”
Including yourself?
If you follow CNN you have bigger issues
Puhleaze
Agreed
When is the league going to stop coming between doctors and their patients? If a doctor prescribes a substance that’s needed for a player to heal, so be it. It’s not like Ben went out on the street and self prescribed. This idiocy needs to end! It needs to be about what’s best for the player to heal!
As much as I’d be in favor of players getting the best treatment to heal, once you allow a certain substance that substance will just be abused by players that dont need it to heal but need it to get a competitive edge.
The important part of the article; which I think you missed is, “…which is banned by the league.”
It doesn’t matter if it is legal. In some states marijuana is legal. It is still a banned substance by the NFL.
*Wrongfully banned by the nfl
Well gee golly I sure don’t think any player would find a corrupt doctor to prescribe “steroids to help a body heal”. This is exactly people’s thoughts in the 1980s
Wait didn’t he say he thought he was retired? And he told each team BEFORE he signed with them? AND he’s accepting the punishment without appeal out of respect for the bargaining agreement between the players and the league AND it’s not an illegal substance for treatment when given by a doctor which it was. Yeah I guess he does have Christian values. What the heck does Fox News have to do with it?
He is on Fox news alot thats why
He’s frequently on CNN as well
Who cares? Both CNN and Fox News are 100% made up propaganda, not news. Anyone who watches either channel and thinks they are getting facts has been terribly failed by the educational system.
Now back to football.
Well said Cnn and Fox News are both corrupt Cnn is just worse which is why their ratings are below Nick at Nite
They both suck, anyone who watches either can’t think for themselves. Fox is for hard headed blow hards, cnn for self righteous people. Christianity is for hard headed blow hards who also are self righteous.
This is a great take.
Someone is an obvious liberal witch-hunter who wants to try to shame anyone associated with religion or Fox News
No I mock phonies and hypocrites
You mock phonies and hypocrites ? But you watch CNN who’s the hypocrite again?
When did I ever say I watch Communist news network?
Fair enough,I was worried
For a lot of people it’s 1 or the other for me its one of the 3 main networks sometimes AP
It still blows my mind that CNN posted pics of immigrant children that Trump put in cages,only problem is AP was the first one to figure out these pics were from 2014
Two words: Rush Limbaugh
what a dope
Who cares at 39 he is a has been and won’t matter if he plays 3 games or 16. They all want one last pay day and always some sucker gives it to him.
You cared enough to post…
Guy should have avoided doctors altogether and gone to a massage parlor like Robert Kraft.
This…. is….. beautiful
Wondering if the Patriots didn’t approach him about playing,and then he decided to get the steroids to speed up his preparation to come back, and this is why they weren’t worried about it? After all, it’s only the first 4 games.
Did you read the article?
Gronk, come back for 4 games.