NFL Suspends Baltimore Ravens S Christian Thompson

August 23, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back Richard Murphy (39) stiff arms Baltimore Ravens safety Christian Thompson (33) on his way to a touchdown in the fourth quarter at M

Baltimore Ravens let two safeties, Ed Reed and Bernard Pollard, walk away this off season. They’ve brought in Michael Huff, but their secondary has taken another hit as the NFL suspends 2012 fourth round draft pick, and safety, Christian Thompson four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

He finished last season on injured reserve with a knee injury and missed the postseason. He won’t be eligible for the 2013 season until after the 4th game of the season, via the Baltimore Sun.

“We have been aware of this situation for some time,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said in a statement.

But aside from the impact his absence will have on the Ravens, it will impact the second year player’s wallet as well. He will lose $112,941 of his $480,000 base salary. He makes $28,235 per game.

He mainly played on special teams in 2012 and there weren’t really plans to rely on him in the 2013 campaign, but with the transformation of the secondary this off season the opportunity was there to make an impression in training camp. He had no recorded statistics from last season.

This will be his second season of a 4 year $2.352 million dollar contract. He spent time at Auburn University before transferring to South Carolina State.