Steelers second-year wide receiver Martavis Bryant is facing a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Bryant is currently appealing the suspension but this is a huge blow to the Steelers offense, who already has to play the first two games without Le’Veon Bell and is missing center Maurkice Pouncey due to injury for at least half of the season.
Bryant was a fourth-round pick in 2014 and wasn’t activated until the seventh game of the season but came on strong, catching 26 passes for 549 yards and eight touchdowns. There was plenty of talk in training camp that Bryant could very well overtake Markus Wheaton for the No. 2 wide receiver role on the team.
With so many offensive weapons at Ben Roethlisberger’s disposal, the Steelers’ offense was expected to pick up right where they left off last regular season and continue on their record-breaking pace. Now, you have to wonder how far they can go if they have this many obstacles to overcome.
In last year’s Wild Card playoff loss to Baltimore, Bryant had five receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown. He connected with Ben Roethlisberger in their first preseason debut for a 44-yard touchdown pass.
With the news being so new about the suspension and appeal it’s hard to say what the circumstances around the violation was but with the team already having to deal with losing Bell for the first two games of the season Bryant would have to be one of the dumbest dudes ever to knowingly violate the policy and risk suspension himself.
We’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out. Not sure when or if the appeal process has been initiated or how long it will take to play out.
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