New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman will have the appeal of his four-game drug suspension heard on Monday and is set to deliver a “vigorous” defense that challenges the NFL’s handling of his case, Dan Graziano of ESPN reports.
Graziano notes the two key issues central to Edelman’s appeal. The first of which is the fact that the substance he tested positive for wasn’t immediately recognized by drug testers, per a previous report by the MMQB.
Secondly, Edelman will argue that there was a mishandling of the documentation and delivery of Edelman's test results, as mistakes by the NFL in the protocol were apparently discovered during the course of the investigation.
The 32-year-old Edelman has been working himself back into top shape after missing all of last year due to a torn ACL. He participated in the team’s offseason workouts, OTAs and minicamp and consistently ramped up his workload as the offseason wore on.
Even if Edelman loses his appeal, the Patriots should still be in decent shape without him for the first quarter of the season. They did just fine without him last year, and between Rob Gronkowski, Chris Hogan, and the Pats’ array of running backs and auxiliary receivers (Jordan Matthews, Kenny Britt, Braxton Berrios, et al), Tom Brady should still have enough weapons to survive until he returns to the lineup.
But given New England’s track record of fighting NFL-mandated suspensions (i.e. Deflategate), they may still opt to prolong their legal battle with the league should Edelman’s appeal be denied.
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