UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long for the Jags to be even bigger losers than usual. We had our money on Wes testing positive for weed. It looks like it was a banned substance that showed up. We still don’t know what substance exactly, so this could be anything from steroids to cold meds…come on, Nyquil.
The Young Money receivers are going to have to survive the first four games of 2012 without their tight end. That’s right, three weeks after the Steelers’ season ended a mile up, Wes Saunders found out he’ll be suspended for the first quarter of the year.
Saunders showed promise his rookie year and Mike Tomlin seemed to really like Heath Miller’s heir apparent. He was still going be behind Miller on the depth chart but there was a good chance he would’ve been the Steelers’ No. 2 tight end this year. Now he’s going to have to fight to get that spot back from David Johnson.
This isn’t good news for Saunders. He was one of the best tight ends in last year’s draft class but went undrafted because he was kicked off the South Carolina team his senior year. Tomlin took a shot on him by signing him after the lockout, hoping he’d learned from his mistake so we’ll see how this plays out.
The Steelers have pretty high standards when it comes to violators within the organization. Will Saunders be shipped out of town like Santonio Holmes or be disciplined like Ben Roethlisberger. Let’s hope the Steelers give him a second chance because he’s got some big upside.
Nothing’s being released about why Saunders is being suspended but our early money is on a failed drug test…and we’re not talking performance enhancers. Another tight end, the ‘Skins’ Fred Davis was also suspended four games earlier this year for smoking weed. If it turns out Saunders wasn’t puffing ganja we’ll be the first to appologize but for now, it’s the safe bet.
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