Last month, in response to rumors that Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell had missed a drug test. He denied that he missed or otherwise failed a test. But that doesn’t mean the issue didn’t exist.
With the news that Bell is facing a four-game suspension for missing a drug test, the rumor is now truth. Whether that becomes a suspension will be the subject of the internal appeal process.
The good news for Bell is that, in 2014, the league office relinquished (somehow) the Commissioner’s final-say authority over the substance-abuse policy. Bell’s appeal will go to a panel of neutral arbitrators, who will decide whether Bell indeed missed a test or whether he has an excuse for what may have been a miscommunication or mistake.
It’s not yet known whether or to what extent Bell has a viable defense. Frankly, none of the information about Bell’s status should be known to anyone. But the confidentiality provision of the substance-abuse policy typically is violated, at times by the league itself through a league-owned media company that has no qualms about disclosing that a player who has yet to be suspended (and may never actually be suspended) is facing a suspension.
