The New York Giants overhauled their coaching staff this offseason as they hope to quickly turnaround following a nightmare 2017 season. They brought in James Bettcher from the Arizona Cardinals to be their new defensive coordinator, and defensive end Josh Mauro followed him to the Big Apple by signing with the team earlier this week.

Unfortunately, he won't be able to take the field for the month of September. The team announced that Mauro has been suspended four games by the NFL for violating the league's performance enhancing drugs policy.

Josh Mauro of the New York Giants has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2018 regular season for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances.

Mauro is eligible to participate in all offseason and preseason practices and games.

Shortly afterward, Mauro's agent Steve Caric released a statement on the matter on Mauro's behalf.

“While I take full responsibility for this suspension, I want to clarify that my test showed traces of a banned stimulant from a preworkout supplement bought over the counter. While I didn’t and would never intentionally put anything in my body that was a banned substance, I wholeheartedly honor and respect the NFL’s drug testing policy and I take full accountability,” Mauro said in a statement. “I want to thank the entire Giants organization for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to compete and help bring another championship to such a storied franchise. I look forward to overcoming this adversity I’ve ultimately brought upon myself and will do everything I can to contribute to this team winning football games.”

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The contract Mauro signed with the Giants is team-friendly, so some members of the media are speculating that the Giants knew this punishment was coming before they signed him. He has a base salary of $790,000 and a $90,000 workout bonus, and the one-year deal only counts $720,000 against the cap, which is very rare for a player with starter ability.

In 2017, the 27-year-old played in 13 games (seven starts), making 22 tackles, one sack, and one pass defensed.