Patriots wideout Julian Edelman denied appeal on four-game suspension

Earlier this offseason, it was revealed that New England Patriots star wide receiver Julian Edelman was handed a four-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

Edelman had made the decision to appeal the ban, but that was denied by the court as he will serve that month-long ban to begin next season, according to ESPN.

New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman’s appeal was denied Tuesday.
His four-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs stands.

In the case, Edelman had attempted to pinpoint his argument on two different key points. he had believed that the substance he tested positive for wasn’t a drug that was recognizable by the NFL’s drug testers.

Meanwhile, he had also implied that there was a mishandling of the documentation and delivery of his drug test results. There was no argument against the fact that he did take a banned substance, which had likely made a huge impact on why the ruling had stood.

His absence from the field puts a larger amount of pressure on the rest of the wide receivers on the roster to carry the load. The Patriots had seen the departure of Brandin Cooks via a trade to the Los Angeles and  Danny Amendola to the Miami Dolphins in free agency, but have brought in Jordan Matthews along with Cordarrelle Patterson.

The 32-year-old had missed the entire 2017 season due to a torn ACL after playing a big part of the Patriots winning Super Bowl 51. Edelman has spent the first eight seasons of his career with New England where he has become a primary fixture in the passing game.