The Chicago Bears lost more than a divisional game against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5. Shortly after the game, the news broke that the star defensive end would be suspended for two games for violating the league's performance-enhancing substance policy.
While this is his first offense and there's never been any indication of previous wrongdoing, it's hard to believe he tested positive for steroids. There are precedents for that, and he would've been suspended for much more than just two games if that were the case.
Now, things might get even weirder. According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Sweat might appeal his suspension, which doesn't make much sense, given that suspensions are announced after an appeal.
Montez Sweat might appeal his two-game PED suspension
"This is a strange situation," Florio said on 104.3 The Score. "Because, usually, we only find out about a suspension when the appeals have been exhausted, and it's just matter of serving the time, whatever it may be, under the PED policy. I had a conversation with someone earlier that indicated to me they are exploring a potential appeal that would, as I understand it, split the hairs between the PED policy and the substance abuse policy."
So, this pretty much means that Sweat violated the league's substance abuse policy, not the performance-enhancing drug policy. Whether that's better or worse is for everyone to judge, but it certainly sounds like a weird defense.
Alcohol-related suspensions are usually for three games, so that couldn't have been it, either. That said, we're not here to play detective, point fingers, or judge Sweat or any other player; we're just trying to understand where this is coming from.
There's clearly something fishy here. Can he get out on a technicality? Can he play during the appeal process? Does that mean he can suit up on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons? If not, and found innocent, how will the league deal with this?
Sweat is the Bears' best pass rusher. He's gotten off to a slow start to the season by his standards, logging just a couple of sacks, along with seven tackles (two solo), two tackles for loss, and four quarterback hits in five games.
With Dayo Odeyingbo set to miss Week 6 with an injury, the Bears can use as much help as they can get in the pass-rushing department, and Austin Booker might be in for an expanded role after his strong start to the campaign.
Maybe this is all a huge smokescreen. Perhaps there's nothing to it, and Florio just misunderstood the whole situation or got some bad intel. It's hard to believe he'd get enough time to appeal and suit up at this point in the week.
Then again, crazier things have happened in this league, for sure. And if Sweat didn't juice up or break any rules, he's definitely entitled to some legitimate defense. For now, it looks like we'll just have to wait and see.
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