According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Albert Breer, NFLPA union president Eric Winston has said that all player reps will take aside time Friday for a conference call, where they could potentially vote on the new drug proposal.
The league submitted its proposal to the players Thursday evening, and addressed human growth hormone testing, among other issues.
The fact that they are supposedly ready to hold a conference call is a good sign for negotiations. Out of the 32 player representatives, they simply need a majority of the vote for the new policy to be put into place. According to a source close to the situation, a vote is expected to come Friday.
If the NFLPA does in fact vote Friday, teams could potentially get their key assets back this weekend, but more likely next week. That holds true for players like Wes Welker of the Denver Broncos, as well as Dion Jordan of the Miami Dolphins.
Each case is considered individual, but for all those that tested positive in 2014, it is expected that they would all be reinstated immediately, as they wouldn’t have been affected by the latest drug proposal.
For all those considered about a player like Josh Gordon, his case is a little more tricky because it stems from 2013. The new threshold for marijuana will be raised to 35 ng/ml from 15 ng/ml. If Gordon doesn’t have his suspension fully lifted, he would likely have his current suspension reduced.