Shortly after the news broke that Giants wide receiver Golden Tate was set to be suspended for four games, the veteran took to Twitter to offer an explanation.
“This past April, during the off-season, my wife and I decided to see a specialist for fertility planning. I started the treatment prescribed to me and just days later I discovered it contained an ingredient that is on the league’s banned substance list. I immediately discontinued use, I reported the situation to the Independent Administrator of the NFL Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances, and I spoke with my coaches and general manager. I did all of this well before a failed test was even confirmed.
Per NFL protocol, an initial suspension was imminent, but myself and the Giants organization are confident in the facts, and eagerly await my appeal to put this behind us.
During the entirety of my 10 year career I have taken great pride in playing this game the right way, have been an ambassador for the NFL and have never had any issue with the league’s policy. The treatment this past April had no effect on the upcoming season, and I did not, and could not have undergone this treatment in April for any competitive advantage. I deeply appreciate the support from the New York Giants Organization, and will continue to hold the highest level of character and integrity, while being a leader in the locker room.
In respect to the team and my teammates I won’t be speaking on this again until after the appeal. I’m focusing on football, and will not let this be a distraction.”
Tate surely sounds confident in his argument, and we heard earlier that the receiver had high hopes for the appeals process.
Let’s check out some more notes and reactions following Tate’s ban:
- Speaking of the appeal, the meeting is set to take place in early August, tweets ESPN’s Adam Schefter. That means the team will have some clarity on Tate’s availability for the start of the regular season.
- If the suspension is upheld, Tate would lose around $1.75MM in 2019 money, tweets Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. Perhaps more importantly, the receiver would forfeit his $7.975MM in 2020 guarantees. Tate signed a four-year, $37MM deal with the Giants this past winter.
- Last offseason, the Giants signed defensive end Josh Mauro with the understanding that he was facing a four-game suspension. That wasn’t the case this time around, as Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com tweets that the Giants only learned of the impending suspension after inking Tate in March (which makes sense considering the timeline detailed in Tate’s tweet).
- We learned earlier today that the Giants would be hosting a workout for free agent wideouts, and it sounds like a signing is pending. Head coach Pat Shurmur said the team would likely be added a receiver at some point today (via NFL.com’s Adam Maya). Following Tate’s suspension and injuries to Sterling Shepard and Corey Coleman, the Giants current depth chart consists of of Cody Latimer, BennieFowler, Russell Shepard and Darius Slayton.
The question is with so much at stake why wouldn’t a player confirm before taking any drug that it didn’t have ingredients that would violate the policy?
Bingo
This is all a set up. Goodell is mad they didn’t get him for the stolen doughnuts. They colluded with the Dr to give him a drug that had an illegal substance in it. Goodell is evil and needs to be stopped.
Time to take off the ton foil hats and realize everything in the NFL isn’t Goodell’s fault. Rule changes are made by the competition committee along with other things. I do believe the punishments are arbitrary and need to be spelled out better. I was on his side for awhile a few years ago I stopped. There has been too much stupid stuff happen. The biggest one and probably the turning point for good was Ray Rice. When he drug her out of the elevator what the hell did he think happened in there? He gave her a kiss and she swooned? That was just stupid and I don’t even like the Ravens.
Ohhhh Golden Taint.
if this is indeed the case then it is quite terrible for the league. no one should have to explain such personal things to the public to protect their good name in such a situation. classic Godell, and classic NFL.
nope, all you need to do is inform the physician of the wellness policy and ask for a list of ingredients to have sent to the league office to confirm whether it’s safe to take
I mean I agree that he shouldn’t have to go public like this, but he still put a banned substance in his body. I don’t think Tate had any malicious intent with this but the rules are still rules. There’s a difference between taking a treatment with an illegal substance and say eating/drinking something that is contaminated. Its up to the players to know if the medicine/prescriptions they’re taking has any banned substances in it.
Imo he’s trying to drum up some public support by revealing as much as he did. He easily could’ve said something along the lines of “he has a potential suspension looming for a banned substance but he is confident that his appeal will properly explain the situation and prove he’s not trying to cheat”. There’s been plenty of other players suspended for accidently using a banned substance and not going in to as much detail.
Really? A positive piss test is Roger’s fault? I didn’t see any press conference or release put out b6 the league, Tate made this public.
And these pro athletes are always gaming the system. The exemptions for grown men to take children meds like Ritalin and other stuff that provides competitive edges in weird ways is well beyond the percentage it should be.
the guy told the league about it and admitted his mistake. its not like had an impact on any games on April. haw many of these guys obviously and overtly try to game the system and try to get away with it. why would he have told the league about it if he intended to actually use it as a prevalence enhancer?
He gave the league an excuse after pissing and before it was confirmed positive. No matter what excuse you may come up with it wouldn’t fly.
And in this day of professional athletes abusing Human Growth Hormones I couldn’t find one excuse for a Notre Dame graduate to not think hormone treatment should be checked ahead of time to see if the meds would lead to a positive PED test before the test.
If I was them I’d try and sign Michael Crabtree
Trade for Vikings treadwell
BOTTOM LINE:
For the player and for that matter all of the rest of us,YOU are accountable for what substances go into your body. It is your responsibility to see that doctors and pharmacists are fully informed and have documentation on what can and cannot be prescribed/administered to you.
Sorry – Appeal S/B denied.