Giants’ Tate suspended over fertility drug
New York Giants receiver Golden Tate has been suspended for four games for using a drug prescribed for fertility planning.
The 10-year veteran, who signed with the Giants in March as a free agent, announced the suspension in a Twitter post Saturday. He said he plans to appeal the violation of the NFL’S policy on performance enhancers and that he would have no further comment.
The NFL has not announced the suspension and it had no comment, league spokesman Brian Mccarthy said in an email.
Giants coach Pat Shurmur declined to comment, saying the team will see what happens.
Tate can practice in training camp but will not be able to play in the first four regular-season games unless his suspension is overturned. That rarely happens.
The Giants’ receiving corps has been swamped by injuries in the first three days of training camp.
Sterling Shepard, who was supposed to take over as the No. 1 receiver with the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland, suffered a broken left thumb in the opening practice on Thursday. It was disclosed the following day that wideout and kickoff returner Corey Coleman suffered a torn ACL in the same workout.
The Tate suspension is the latest blow.
In his statement, Tate said he and his wife met with a fertility specialist in April. He took a prescribed drug and learned shortly after that an ingredient was a substance banned by the league. Tate said he reported the problem to the independent administrator of the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances and alerted his coaches and general manager.
Tate is confident his appeal has merit. He said he has never violated the league’s rules on banned substances, and the treatment will have no effect on the 2019 season.
Pats executive stays clear of badmouthing team
Nick Caserio, the New England Patriots director of player personnel, took the high road Saturday, saying he is happy to be with the team and remains fully committed to its goals.
Whether the veteran team executive harbors any resentment over being denied a chance to interview for the Houston Texans’ general manager position may not be known until his current contract expires after the 2020 draft.
Caserio, who joined the Patriots as a personnel assistant in 2001 and assumed his current position in 2008, has been courted twice by the Texans, only for them to be rebuffed by a clause in his contract that does not allow him to interview with other teams. The Patriots filed tampering charges against the Texans after the most recent attempt, and the Texans backed off.
Caserio shed little light upon the situation other than to reaffirm his devotion to his current employer.
“I’d say I’m pretty honored and privileged to be in the position I’m in, to work for this organization,” said Caserio, who said he would not speculate on what might happen after his contract expires.
Lions release Riddick
The Detroit Lions are moving on from one of their mainstays in the backfield.
The team released running back Theo Riddick after six seasons with the team.
“Theo obviously is a great professional,” coach Matt Patricia said. “He’s a great player. He did a lot of great things for us through the course of the years. We have all the respect in the world for everything that he’s done, but in many of those situations, we’re just going to try to do what’s best for the team.”
Replacing Riddick will be an interesting challenge, however. He was second on the Lions last season with 61 receptions, and he also rushed for 171 yards on 40 carries.
Riddick has 285 receptions in his career, including a career-high 80 in 2015. But rookie Kerryon Johnson boosted the Lions’ running game last year, and Detroit also added C.J. Anderson to the backfield this offseason.