The NFL has reinstated linebacker Rolando McClain from the suspension list.
He was on and off the suspension list in his career for violating the league’s program and policy for substances of abuse. The NFL indefinitely suspended him Dec. 2, 2016, but he was conditionally reinstated before the 2019 season.
It’s unclear whether he went back on the suspended list after that.
McClain, 34, has not played in the NFL since the 2015 season with the Cowboys.
He now seeks a chance to resume his career, saying he is 8 pounds under his playing weight of 260 and in great shape.
“I never planned to not return to football,’' McClain told Mike Fisher of SI.com. “I’m still ‘me’ in every way; I laugh [at the skepticism]. I’m ready for the NFL now. Like riding a bike. Football is life. I love the game.’'
McClain said a former teammate “secretly” gave him synthetic marijuana, hooking him.
“I wigged out,” McClain told Fisher. “For the longest time, I had to smoke real weed just to have somewhat of a normal brain. . . . The hardest part for me has been about getting over the mental fog that the synthetic left me in.’'
The Raiders made him the eighth overall pick in 2010, but he played only three seasons in Oakland and two in Dallas before being indefinitely suspended.
He praised the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for getting him where he is now.
“Mr. Goodell has been a big supporter of mine from the beginning,’' McClain said. “He’s always been fair.’'
The question now is: Will an NFL team give him a second chance?