Steelers’ Saunders to Return after Week 5

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers’ Saunders to Return after Week 5

by SteelBlitz

When Weslye Saunders was handed his fine it was stated as a four week suspension for a positive drug test. Following the positive test the general consensus was that Saunders would be available following week 4 and would only miss 3 games due to the bye week for the Steelers in week 4. The NFL has now contacted the Steelers and Saunders and let them know that he will not be allowed to return until week 6 of the season.

It is believed that Saunders positive testing came from using Adderall to combat ADD. Adderall is an approved drug in the NFL, but a player using it must have notified the NFL of their use. Saunders had not notified the NFL and has been suspended for the positive test. He is not the only player to have served a suspension for testing positive for taking Adderall. One other player who had been suspended for using the drug won an appeal to have his suspension overturned; Saunders was not as lucky.

During the off-season Saunders fought the suspension without much luck. He will return to the team for their week 6 match-up in Tennessee on Thursday Night Football. His status on the team currently is on the suspended list which means he does not count against the 53-man roster. It is believed that when he is added to the roster that back-up tight end David Paulson will be cut and that the Steelers will try to sign him to their practice squad.

Saunders is more of a pass catching tight end and will provide one more weapon in the passing game for Ben Roethlisberger, who is already off to a career year passing the ball. The Steelers will also hope that Saunders blocking skills at tight end may help some in the running game.

Per NFL rules players serving a suspension are unpaid. Therefore Saunders will miss paychecks during each week of his suspension. He should, however, only have to lose 4 paychecks as the extra week (due to the bye week) should not affect his pay. Other players serving suspensions will only miss four weeks of the season and will be eligible for their teams in week 5.

[URL]http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/steelers_saunders_to_return_after_week_5/11836369[/URL]

[hawaiiansteel]

The former undrafted free agent posted Thursday on Twitter that he still has to sit out one more game to satisfy his four game suspension for testing positive for the banned drug Adderall.


Weslye Saunders
✔


@Wes_Saunders88:
1 game left of this 4 game suspension. Minor setback for a major comeback. instagr.am/p/QDuId9tDgf/
26 Sep 12


The original thought was that Saunders would only miss four game checks, but now we know that four games means four games and not four weeks.

[Oviedo]

I think Saunders could have a very good season when he gets back. he could make Miller even more valuable by forcing defenses to account for another quality TE, especially in the Red Zone.

[SidSmythe]

I hit him for my first time on Madden for the go ahead TD the other day. Gotta get him more involved!!

[phillyesq]

It will be interesting to see who is the odd man out when Saunders returns. The Steelers coaching staff was noted to be high on Paulson, so I wonder if it will be Pope (assuming that Saunders is retained).

Saunders has some raw ability, but really needs to show some more consistency. It would be nice to see him develop as another weapon for Ben, but I'd be happy if he can develop into a solid and reliable #2 TE.

[Oviedo]

It will be interesting to see who is the odd man out when Saunders returns. The Steelers coaching staff was noted to be high on Paulson, so I wonder if it will be Pope (assuming that Saunders is retained).

Saunders has some raw ability, but really needs to show some more consistency. It would be nice to see him develop as another weapon for Ben, but I'd be happy if he can develop into a solid and reliable #2 TE.

Reliable #2 in the short term, but lets not forget that Heath is getting up there in age. I'd like us to grab a young stud TE like Gronkowski or Jimmy Grahm in the next draft. However I suspect that fixing our defense will be the priority of the next draft.

[RuthlessBurgher]

It sucks that he will be available to return a week from today (the Monday after the Eagle game) and then he will have very little time to prepare for his first game that Thursday at against Tennessee. I would have much rather have had a week 5 bye leading up to the Thursday night game instead of having a 2 week break, then cramming the next 2 games in 5 days.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Reliable #2 in the short term, but lets not forget that Heath is getting up there in age. I'd like us to grab a young stud TE like Gronkowski or Jimmy Grahm in the next draft. However I suspect that fixing our defense will be the priority of the next draft.

The best TE prospect to come out next year is probably Eifert from Notre Dame, and he is not a dynamic Gronk-Graham like freak (few are).

[phillyesq]

It sucks that he will be available to return a week from today (the Monday after the Eagle game) and then he will have very little time to prepare for his first game that Thursday at against Tennessee. I would have much rather have had a week 5 bye leading up to the Thursday night game instead of having a 2 week break, then cramming the next 2 games in 5 days.

Yeah, I agree. I wonder if the thinking from the NFL was that a bye before a Thursday game (giving you 11 days off instead of the 2 weeks) wasn't really a bye?

[Keyplay1]

He says, "One other player who had been suspended for using the drug won an appeal to have his suspension overturned; Saunders was not as lucky."

How could anyone possibly have thought anything else regarding the 4 game suspension. However, that is not the issue here. What seems to be significant is the loss of 4 game pay checks. This sounds like an awfully huge penalty to me for something which sounds about as serious as taking a freaking aspirin. Somebody should start investigating those league offices and start suspending those idiots. Cost them a couple months pay checks.

Also who is this other player whose suspension was overturned? How so? Why?

He also says "Other players serving suspensions will only miss four weeks of the season and will be eligible for their teams in week 5."

Uhh! Not really. They will also miss 4 games and be eligible for their teams game 5 same as any player from Pittsburgh or Indy.

Uhh! Actually Saunders has had 5 weeks to prepare for TEN now, thanks to the bye week.

Not sure what the article is saying, if anything. It seems to infer that the penalty for this offense is extremely severe.