Like so many of NFL players suspended for at least a year due to violations of the substance-abuse policy, Dolphins defensive end Dion Jordan has become both gone and largely forgotten. Jordan could soon be no longer forgotten, and also no longer gone.
The third overall pick in the 2013 draft tells Tom Pelissero of USA Today that a petition for reinstatement will be filed on Wednesday.
Jordan says that he has passed two tests a week since his suspension began in early 2015, and that he hasn’t taken drugs in more than two years. He says that, in November 2014, he provided a diluted sample after admittedly drinking excess water to flush alcohol from his system, without realizing he wasn’t being tested for alcohol.
Jordan also claims that his previous six-game suspension in 2014 resulted from a positive test for MDMA and a positive test for marijuana. Without other violations, however, those two failed tests shouldn’t have put Jordan off the field, at all.
Whatever the outcome of the reinstatement effort, the league’s obsession with checking a player’s urine for drugs that don’t enhance performance continues to keep skilled, able players off the field for reasons unrelated to their skills and abilities. At a time when many think the NFL should be worried about skilled, able players choosing to retire from football prematurely, maybe the league should reconsider its attitude regarding the things willing participants in professional football do when they aren’t at work.