OT Lane Johnson’s Suspension: A Timeline

by | Nov 30, 2016 | Uncategorized |

In 2013 the Philadelphia-loyal were introduced to Lane Johnson. The 6’6” offensive tackle out of the University of Oklahoma was drafted by the Eagles in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft. After playing 48 games with the team over four seasons, Johnson is finds himself on the bench again after being handed a 10-game suspension from the League after testing positive for PEDs for the second time. Johnson maintains his innocence and has since sued the NFL and NFLPA.

Let’s take a look back at how he got here.

April 25, 2013 – Johnson was selected with the fourth overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.

July 20, 2013 – Johnson signed a four-year contract with the team worth more than $19 million.

June 30, 2014 – Johnson tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs after taking a prescription drug without checking the banned substance list or clearing it with the Eagles athletic trainers. He was subsequently suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2014 NFL season.

January 29, 2016 – Johnson signed a six-year extension with the Eagles that will keep him in Philadelphia through 2021.

August 9, 2016 – It was first reported that Johnson would once again face a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance. Because this was his second incident, the suspension was automatically set at 10 games. Johnson said that he took a legal amino acid that was contaminated, resulting in him testing positive for peptide.

September 20, 2016 – After weeks of speculation, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Johnson was officially suspended by the NFL pending an appeal with a neutral arbitrator.

October 11, 2016 – Following an October 4 hearing, the 10-game suspension was upheld. Lane Johnson cannot participate in team activities until late December’s Week 16.

November 10, 2016 – Johnson filed unfair labor practice charges against the NFL and NFLPA and filed a complaint with the department of labor against the NFLPA.

For this week’s The Business of Sports podcast, I sat down with Steve Sashin, Johnson’s lawyer, and the rest of his legal team to discuss Johnson’s suspension and the charges that he’s brought against the NFL and NFLPA.

Sashin and his team explain that they believe Johnson’s rights under the National Labor Relations Act have been violated. The NLRA states that organizations, such as the NFL and NFLPA, have statutory obligations to provide information to employees in terms of their employment. The NFL has refused to disclose information about Johnson’s drug testing records, testing protocols and more to him. They then used said information to confirm his positive test and the following suspension.

Although Sashin is representing only Johnson, he says that he and his team are fighting a battle for all NFL players who have wrongfully been suspended. The NFL’s ambiguity when it comes to banned substances has allowed them to keep players off of the field without disclosing specifics. Not only that, but the NFLPA has encouraged its members to use an app, Aegis Shield, to check for banded substances in products. Here’s the catch: the app hasn’t been verified for the NFL so when players use substances that are cleared by the app only to later find out that the substance in fact wasn’t approved, they are handed a suspension by the League.

Sashin says that the NFL needs a more concrete process for certifying supplements, and should mirror that of the MLB.  For now, Sashin says that the team’s goal is to win Johnson back the money he lost during his suspension, but more importantly, to restore his reputation. For our full conversation, listen to the podcast below.