Now I can understand why Coates was selected where he was.

I questioned at draft time this selection, I now understand why the Steelers selected Sammy Coates.It looks like we got another dope smoker problem. It is all coming to light now.
A quick question, is Bryant's rookie contract 4 years? Santonio Holmes all over again,
didn't we just give him away to the Jets back then? When are the Rooney's going to crack down
on this stuff?

 

All rookie contracts are 4 years with a 5th year option. Cam Heyward got the 5th year option before he signed the new contract.

So you think that they should get rid of a talent like Bryant because he smokes pot? Then I guess Bell should be shown the door as well.

I don't believe they drafted Coates because they believed that Bryant was going to get suspended. What if Brown sat out the season because of the contract situation? Or injury's? He was drafted for depth. Another weapon. To push Wheaton.

Yes it sucks that this happens. They should just take pot off the list. What can the Rooney's do? They just signed a Dog Killer, funding the whole operation, participating in the acts. Got caught but hey, everyone needs a 2nd chance right?!

Pot is the least of the NFL's worries...

 

Current Steeler administration appears to have a higher tolerance for low character.

Although in this case it's not so much low character as it is just plain stupid.

 

13, big difference with bell if he failed it the first time and got caught as he did with the dui. i'm not sure if that counts as a first failure of an nfl drug test either. (but it should). secondly, if bell has been clean since then, it's a huge difference between he and bryant. it's also got nothing to do with vick and what he was suspended for at the time. it does however liken itself to the santonio holmes incident with a repeat failure and suspension. remember he was gone shortly after.

i also think that maybe coates was drafted or we drafted him where we did in the 3rd round as a precaution. it sure looks that way right now anyway to me. we haven't taken one that high since wheaton, but there was also talk of wheaton being replaced when his contract was up. who knows? maybe a little bit of both in the planning. with the offense clicking and ben re-signed for 5 years, we want to make sure the weapons are there and we thought there was a bryant problem and we wanted to cover our butts in both bryant and wheatons situations.

 

I feel very strongly now that the Steelers knew they had a problem,
yes we can all say well we can't keep everybody. But the WR position is one of the few positions that the Steelers can evaluate properly and at a lower round. There is not enough balls to go around,If MB doesn't get his head on straight, the Rooney's will get rid of him so fast his head will really be spinning LOL. And it won't be from the dope.

 

I highly doubt this is the case.

WRs are easy to overpay and difficult to keep. If you have the chance to pick up Bryant mk2, then you do it.

 

Does anyone know the answer to this - are teams and players given every random drug test result or only after the pertinent threshold is exceeded - like in MB's case - two times guilty of cannabis in his system? I ask this since if the Steelers knew of the first offense - wouldn't it have made sense to put him under 24/7 surveillance or something similar knowing this was something he was susceptible to and would get an automatic 4 game suspension with strike two? I know this wreaks of "1984" Big Brother - but this is big business and this totally affects the business investment of all shareholders. I say this in light of the Steeler's history with dope smoking going back to Bong Morris.

 

I would imagine words were had and warnings issued. But it would be hard to keep utter control of a young guy in the off-season. The stuff can stay in the system for a long time - maybe longer than he realised. Or maybe I'm just being charitable there.

 

I think you're right. He said he was surprised by the suspension, so that's code for "I thought I was clean"...

 

Hmmm....I'm sure these questions come up every time this happens but without debating the logic or legality of cannabis itself in society, is the current method of testing appropriate, fair, accurate etc. If indeed traces of the THC stay in your blood system for a "long time" (5 days, 10 days, 30 days, longer???) does that mean it still does or can affect your dexterity or impair judgement that long or is it just the consequences of a zero tolerance policy? Perhaps the fact that these guys get caught two or more times answers the latter point about impairing judgement but can it impair physical performance one way or the other that long? If you think about alcohol, you can get really tanked on Friday and probably be legally sober to drive on Saturday or Sunday or do these hi-tech tests also detect and ban alcohol that long from the point of imbibing? Just rambling and curious.

 

That's not why they drafted Coates, maybe he was the best player on their board. The Steelers always draft WRs they have been successful at finding them in the middle rounds.

 

Interesting question.

Cannabis generally stays in your system for a month. The point about the testing though is not because it gives people any kind of unfair advantage; and as it's not a banned substance from a sporting performance perspective, I guess it wouldn't matter if its still having an effect on the body doesn't matter to whether it's detectable in a player's system.

 

Thanks Thig (BTW Yancy was one of my all time favorite Steelers - even if it was you know who throwing to him most of time). Not that it really matters, but now I'm morbidly curious about the specifics of the Bryant case - how far apart were these failed tests? Were any of them during the off-season? Last season and this pre-season?

NOTE TO TTF: ANY WAY TO ENTER "STEELER", "STEELER'S" AND "STEELERS" INTO THE SPELL CHECK DICTIONARY? PRETTY SAD WHEN THE SPELL-CHECK STEERS YOU TO "STEERS". (although steer manure is quite appropriate way to describe the team these days).

 

Boy PG article 8-31-2015 seems to think differently. The Rooney's
have had just about enough of this BS. Time for them to have some
attitude adjustments with some of these ball players.

 

Well, Dulac appears to agree with Wardismvp:

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...t-seize-role-at-receiver/stories/201508310093

 

The Steelers always have had tolerance. In 1973 Ernie Holmes shot at a pursuing police helicopter. The Rooneys paid $45 K to bail him out of jail and he ended up with probation and stayed on the Steelers roster. Tim Worley was suspended for an entire season for failed drug tests and returned. Eric Green was suspended 6 games for failed drug tests and returned. There were two different off the field incidents with Plaxico Burress. Then there were the incidents with Ben, Santonio, James Harrison etc ...... The 'Rooney way' might be a bit overstated.

 

and mac a couple of days before this thread.

 

Not trying to nit pick but all rookies do not get a 5th year option. Only 1st rounders get that team option. All other rookies have only a 4 year contract. then are restricted free agents.

 

Did the team even know about the second failed test when the draft happened. I feel like if the team knew about back then we wouldn't be just now hearing about it. Stuff like that would have leaked out.

 

Wow....I don't even know what to say about that. I sure wish I had known that before I drafted Bryant for my fantasy team