Bryant suspended for violating drug policy
3-time suspended WR must wait 10 months to apply for reinstatement
Raiders wide receiver Martavis Bryant has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL “for violating the terms of his April 2017 conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse,” the league said in a statement.
Bryant is currently on injured reserve with a knee injury and becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season.
“Effective immediately, Martavis Bryant has been returned to the Reserve/ Commissioner Suspended list indefinitely for violating the terms of his April 2017 conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse,” the full statement said.
This is the third time Bryant has been suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. He was suspended four games in 2015, then banned for a year without pay in 2016. In 2017 he caused drama with the Steelers by demanding the ball more in an offense that also included the game’s best running back (Le’Veon Bell) and wide receiver (Antonio Brown) at the time.
The Raiders traded a third-round pick for Bryant during April’s draft, but the talented wideout only caught 19 passes for 266 yards and no touchdowns in eight games played. Reports of a possible suspension for Bryant first surfaced in midJune, but nothing materialized until now. The Raiders didn’t include Bryant on their initial 53-man roster because they again feared a suspension, but re-signed him following Week 1 after he cleared waivers. The Raiders’ Martavis Bryant was suspended indefinitely for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
“There is a lot of potential there. Potential is a tough word in the football business. He definitely has potential. He has something that a lot of people don’t have,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said of Bryant last week after he was placed on injured reserve. “I think we’ve all seen that, especially in camp. Hitting him on some deep balls, hitting him on some
big explosive plays. Even in games that we have played together, hitting on some big plays. There is so much there that you just want to untap and hopefully we’ll get to do that for a lot of years together.”
Now their future together is in serious doubt, as Bryant’s career hits its biggest roadblock yet.
Bryant’s career isn’t officially over, especially at only 26 years old, but he has to wait 10 months before applying for reinstatement with the league. Even then, it’s not guaranteed the NFL permits his return.
• Coach Jon Gruden wouldn’t get into the Amari Cooper trade discussion but did have words for the media in general.
Gruden took a clever swipe at ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who recently aired an NFL update during which he talked of a key matchup in Thursday night’s AFC game between Chargers tight end Hunter Henry and Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson.
Henry is on injured reserve and Johnson signed with the Raiders before being cut midway through the season.
“I’ve read a lot and I’ve heard a lot. I’ve heard some things in the media that are absolutely hilarious, that aren’t even close. So I’m not going to comment on any of that stuff,” Gruden said before the Raiders departed for Cincinnati for their Week 15 game against the Bengals. “We’ve got to get ready for Dan Ross and Boobie Clark. We’ve got to watch out for Isaac Curtis down the middle. We’ve got to get Tim Brown and all of our receivers ready to play.”
Ross, Clark and Curtis are former Bengals who have been out of the NFL for years. Smith’s comments have been replayed on Twitter and have taken on a life of their own in the form of taking names from the past and invoking them in the present.
• Guard Kelechi Osemele was downgraded from “questionable” to “out” as the Raiders boarded their charter for Cincinnati, which means newcomer Chaz Green will be the starting left guard. On the right side, Gabe Jackson (elbow) is listed as questionable but hasn’t practiced all week and could give way to Denzelle Good. that the deal materialized because Dallas finally bit on the Raiders’ wish for a 2019 first-rounder. McKenzie handled the phone call with Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones, and Gruden said later that week that team-building in general is a collaborative effort.
“I’m not going to speak for the owner. He’s available, I’m sure you can talk to him,” Gruden said then. “We’re working together, Reggie McKenzie, Mark Davis, myself, our coaching staff. Trying to, as I said, get some stability here, get this football team to a point where we can compete for championships. It’s hard to do without guys like we traded, but it’s also exciting to think that somewhere down the road we’ll have a chance to pick some pretty good players.”
The Raiders seemed to be clear winners of the trade at the time, but now both teams seem better off.
Cooper has single-handedly transformed the Cowboys into a playoff team with 40 catches, 642 receiving yards and six touchdowns in six games. In that same span with Oakland this season, Cooper caught only 22 balls for 280 yards and one touchdown. Cooper reeled in 10 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns last Sunday alone in an overtime win against Philadelphia.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is playing better without Cooper, too, which defies logic since the Raiders are without their No. 1 receiver of the last threeplus seasons. So while both teams emerged stronger from a trade that happened almost two whole months ago, the deal is still making headlines with Cooper stirring the pot.