Dolphins’ Jason Ferguson Facing Eight-Game Suspension

As a member of the New York Jets, Jason Ferguson was suspended for four games after he tested positive for a banned dietary supplement to help him control his weight. Now, as a member of the Miami Dolphins, Ferguson has once again tested positive and will face an eight-game suspension.

“I got in trouble with my blood pressure and I was taking that medication, which I’d been taking for a long time (on and off),” Ferguson explained to the Miami media Wednesday in an attempt to quickly dispel any rumors that he had tested positive for steroids.

Because of the league’s confidentiality policy, what exactly was taken by a player is never exactly known — absent a leak. So instead of realizing that the “banned substance list” is a whole lot more than simply steroids, the public hears “banned substance” and immediately has visions of Tony Mandarich.

Ferguson, however, is willing to give up his privacy in order to save his name:

“Tell them what it was. The way they put it out is I failed something on the steroid list. I never took any steroids, no pills, or injections. I have high blood pressure and took something that’s on the list.”

This sounds like a bad situation all around for Ferguson, but every time a guy is suspended for a “banned substance” it brings the NFL’s moronic policy to the forefront and frustrates me beyond belief.

If a player heads out one night and does a few lines of coke and tests positive, it’s likely he’ll end up in the league’s substance abuse program, but won’t face any sort of suspension. But a guy like Ferguson will be forced to miss nearly an entire season (12 games overall) because he tested positive for a diet pill and blood-pressure medication?

I’m not sure about any of you reading this but, for me, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.