(Patriots Wire) — Any hopes that Julian Edelman will be with the Patriots to begin the 2018 season have been dashed, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that his appeal of his four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance enhancing drugs policy has been denied.
Edelman, like Tom Brady in 2016, will serve out the suspension during the first four games of the regular season, returning to the team in Week 5 to face the Indianapolis Colts at home in Foxborough.
The wide receiver was always a long shot to win the appeal, and it’s not just because of the uniform he wears. There have been very few suspensions for this specific violation that have been overturned in recent memory. However there was some debate about how things might be handled in light of the revelation that the specific substance that had triggered the positive result was unknown.
NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran noted that Edelman still has the right to challenge this ruling (just as Brady did back in 2015) if he believes that the arbitrator got it wrong — which means this could drag on if he still feels he can prove his case.
Still, the language in the collectively bargained rule that handles the testing is broad — a point made by Bill Polian (of all people) last week while discussing the nuances of the suspension and appeal on ESPN.
As part of his suspension, Edelman will not be allowed to contact the team or use team facilities for the duration of the first four weeks of the season. Here are the games he will miss:
Week 1: vs. Houston Texans
Week 2: at Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 3: at Houston Texans
Week 4: vs. Miami Dolphins
