NFL Doping Report

September 22nd, 2008 filed in Football

The San Diego Union Tribune published a report over the weekend that they described as an ‘NFL Mitchel Report’. The report chronicles performance enhancing drug (PED) use in the NFL since 1962, naming 185 names, containing players at every position, from every team, and from virtually every year over the past three decades. The report includes 52 players who have “Pro Bowl” on their resumes and 4 who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. This extensive report has been described as “touching the tip of the iceberg”, by Charles Yesalis, a Penn State professor emeritus and anabolic steroids expert.

The report includes names such as Shawne Merriman, Shaun Rogers, Deion Sanders, Travis Henry, Wesley Walls, Julius Peppers, Tim Couch, Johnnie Morton, Sammy Morris, Ricky Williams, Rodney Harrison, Dana Stubblefield, Bill Romanowski, Mike Golic, and Frank Wycheck. While the names on the list don’t come as a surprise, as they have been published in the past, this work is significant as a collection of the doping history of the NFL in a single report.

From the report :

Like the Mitchell Report, the Union-Tribune relied on hundreds of media reports, archives, plus public records and interviews with players and league personnel. There are no bombshell names unveiled for the first time, nor is it considered comprehensive or proportional, just the best snapshot that could be provided through those sources. It is believed to only scratch the surface of actual usage in pro football during that time, according to doping experts.

The report is broken up into 5 sections, which are linked and highlighted below:

• Players of Substance - Introduction

The NFL was first among U.S. pro sports leagues to crack down on steroid use, suspending players as far back as 1989 – 15 years before baseball started. For this reason, it gets gold stars from anti-drug forces.

But some of those same experts still see shortcomings in the league’s drug-testing program. For example, there is no testing on game day, when players would take banned stimulants. Only 10 stimulants are on the NFL’s banned list, compared with more than 50 banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The NFL also has resisted adopting the WADA testing program and protocols, considered to be far more detailed and at the cutting edge of anti-doping efforts. And first-time violators are suspended for four games by the NFL, compared with two years by WADA.

• Timeline

2005 – World Anti-Doping Agency and NFL lower threshold for steroid positive to 4-to-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone.

2006 – Amphetamines added to NFL list of banned performance-enhancers (previously it was a substance-abuse drug).

2007 – Amphetamines tested for on regular basis by NFL, suspension for first positive. NFL bans blood-boosting substance EPO, which would make it the first North American sports league to regularly test for it.

• ‘89 suspensions signaled new era

It was the first steroids scandal in NFL history, and it remains the biggest. On Aug. 29, 1989, 13 players from eight teams were suspended for flunking steroid tests. To this day, many of the 13 wonder why they were singled out. Almost 20 years later, the scandal still reverberates as both a watershed event in league history and a day clouded with suspicion and questions for those involved. All but three of the 13 who were suspended were rookies or relatively unknown players with little experience.

Meanwhile, dozens – maybe hundreds – of players were using steroids to some degree, according to interviews and documents obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. The league had managed to avoid a much larger scandal thanks to two years of warnings and to testing standards that kept the number of announced positives low – a factor that only recently has come to light.

• Why less outrage over drugs in the NFL?

Baseball fans have loudly vilified Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and others in recent years for their alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. But where’s the outrage for football users? A study by The San Diego Union-Tribune found 52 former Pro Bowl players with links to such drugs, plus 133 others in the NFL dating to 1962. Many were caught by drug testing or outright admitted it. Yet there have been few public calls for asterisks by their names, records and championships. Why do few fans seem to mind compared with the outcry in baseball?

• A detailed history

LB Shawne Merriman (2006) tested positive for nandrolone. Attorney said it was because he took a tainted supplement.

CB Deion Sanders (2005) tested positive for steroid-related substance before rejoining the league. He said it was in medication he was taking to treat an injured ankle.

DE Julius Peppers (2002) suspended for four games after testing positive for ephedra. He was leading the league with 10 sacks at the time.

DT Shaun Rogers (2006) suspended four games for violating steroid-related policy. He said it was ephedhrine in an appetite suppressant.

QB Tim Couch (2007) had regimens calling for steroids and human growth hormone, as he tried to come back from shoulder injury, according to Yahoo.com. He was suspended six games.

RB Ricky Williams (2005) tested positive for amphetamine-like substance, according to Miami Herald.

What are your thoughts on this significant report on doping in the NFL, and the questions it raises?

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