Welbourn To Be Suspended Four Games For Roids.

[General_Failure]

I read this while wearing my brand new black Andrews jersey.


... I have nothing to contribute here.

[Sinner]

from espn

The Kansas City Chiefs, who already are short on offensive linemen, lost sixth-year veteran John Welbourn for the first four games of the regular season because of a violation of the NFL's steroid policy.

Welbourn, 29, recently lost his appeal and will begin serving the suspension immediately. He is eligible to return for the Oct. 16 game against the Washington taterskins.

The suspension will cost Welbourn $282,352 of his scheduled base salary of $1.2 million for the 2005 season.

It costs the Chiefs an experienced backup and a versatile veteran who started for the team at right tackle in 2004 after having played most of his career at guard when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"It hurts him and it hurts us," coach Dick Vermeil said. "It's a shame. I believe him. He appealed it, and he didn't win the appeal. He passed a lie detector test, but didn't win the appeal. He fought it and he lost. It doesn't matter if it was taken accidentally, or there was [a banned substance] in something he took that wasn't marked on the bottle. It doesn't matter. There's no tolerance, and we have to live with that."

Unlike the league's substance abuse policy, a "tiered" program in which a player doesn't face suspension until a second violation, the sanctions in the steroid policy stipulate a four-game suspension even for a first-time offender. Beyond acknowledging that he is "not very happy" about the penalty, Welbourn did not address the suspension. The league confirmed the sanctions but, because of its confidentiality policy in such matters, did not identify the banned substance involved or the timing of the test.

Although the Chiefs still have one of the NFL's premier offensive line units, the team is thin at the backup spots because of injuries. Welbourn, acquired in an April 2004 trade with the Eagles, provided veteran insurance.

The former University of California star, a fourth-round choice of the Eagles in the 1999 draft, has appeared in 66 games in his career, all starts. He started 10 games at right tackle last season before knee and hip flexor injuries landed him on the injured reserve list.

Welbourn is the second Chiefs player suspended for the first four games of the season. Starting cornerback Eric Warfield will also miss the first month because of a repeat violation of the substance abuse policy.


good. the clown bag must have been taking tongue steroids

[Diomedes]

Yeah.  We're already talking about that.  Over here.

[Sinner]

opps i thought it would be eagles related, oh well burn my very first thread than 

[SD_Eagle5]

Welbourn may not be news to Reid

By: REUBEN FRANK (Mon, Sep/05/2005)


John Welbourn's steroid suspension may not have been a huge shock if you were paying attention to Andy Reid last spring.

Welbourn, who spent five seasons with the Eagles before a 2004 draft-day trade to the Chiefs, was suspended for four games by the NFL on Saturday after he unsuccessfully appealed a positive steroid test.

He will lose $282,353 in salary - 1/17th of his 2005 base salary of $1.2 million - while he serves the suspension.

Welbourn, the Eagles' fourth-round draft pick in 1999, started 56 games at guard and tackle for the Eagles, most of them at right guard.

But during the 2003 offseason, after an unsuccessful bid for a new contract, he made several comments critical of Reid, team president Joe Banner and owner Jeff Lurie, and on draft day the Eagles shipped him to the Chiefs for two draft picks that eventually became running backs Ryan Moats and Thomas Tapeh.

The same day, the Eagles drafted Shawn Andrews with the 16th pick overall and immediately inserted him in the starting lineup in Welbourn's old right guard spot.

The day the Eagles made the trade, Reid made some uncharacteristic comments about Welbourn, vaguely alleging some sort of baggage in Welbourn's past.

"There are a couple of things that hurt his trade value that people around the league are aware of," Reid said. "I'm not going to get into that. There are some things, but I'm not going to get into it."

Welbourn was furious that Reid would make such a statement, which was widely seen as an allegation that he was using some sort of banned substance.

Eighteen months later, it's easy to assume what Reid was talking about back in April of 2004.

Maybe he knew something back then?

"It hurts him, and it hurts us," Chiefs coach D Vermeil told the Kansas City Star.

Vermeil said Welbourn told him he somehow ingested something without realizing it had a banned substance in it.

"I believe him," Vermeil said. "He appealed it and didn't win the appeal. He passed a lie-detector test, but he didn't win the appeal. He fought it, and he lost."

Welbourn started the first 10 games of last year before going on Injured Reserve with a knee injury. Among the games Welbourn will miss this fall is the Chiefs' Oct. 2 game against the Eagles at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have a bye the following week, so Welbourn won't be able to play until Oct. 16 against the taterskins.

Former Eagles William Hampton (Carolina Panthers), Dante Ellington (Baltimore Ravens), and Steve Edwards (Bears) were released Sunday. ... Eagles return to practice today after three days off.

Reuben Frank can be reached at (609) 871-8081 or rfrank@phillyburbs.com


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[rjs246]

Juice Monkey.

[General_Failure]

[Wingspan]

that would be monkey juice.

[rjs246]

Or a Juice Monkey. Either way, it made me laugh, kind of.