NFL Suspends 6 Players for Doping Violations

"In response to this afternoon's ruling, the Minnesota Vikings are very disappointed in the National Football League's suspension of Kevin and Pat Williams," the team said in a statement. "At the appropriate time, we will have further comment."

This 2008 season image provided by the NFL show Houston Texans football player Bryan Pittman. The...

This 2008 season image provided by the NFL show Houston Texans football player Bryan Pittman. The NFL suspended Pittman for four games without pay on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 for violating the league's anti-doping policy. Also suspended were New Orleans Saints football players Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister, Will Smith and Minnesota Vikings football players Kevin Williams and Pat Williams. All six were punished for using a diuretic, which can serve as a masking agent for steroids. (AP Photo/NFL) NO SALES

(AP)

Adolpho Birch, the NFL's vice president of law and labor policy, would not disclose during a conference call when the players tested positive.

Word of the positive test first leaked in late October. Asked why it took until the final four games of the regular season to hand down the suspensions, Birch said it was "a function of a lot of factors."

"I think if you ask most coaches, every game is important. I don't think they'd differentiate between the first and the last," Birch said. "We do have things in place to get them done as quickly as possible. But we had to deal with the number of players involved and adjust travel schedules. We have to fit it around the players' ability to attend."

David Cornwell, the lawyer for Pittman and the three Saints, called the decisions "inconsistent with the objectives of the steroid policy."

"Deuce, Will, and Charles did not try to enhance their performance with steroids, nor did they knowingly expose themselves to the adverse health risks of a diuretic," Cornwell said in an e-mail. "They took a weight-loss supplement that they had every reason to believe was safe."

In their appeals, some players said the banned substance Bumetanide was not listed as an ingredient in StarCaps, an over-the-counter weight-loss pill. McAllister said he told other players about StarCaps because he believed it was a permitted supplement.

"I wouldn't have put those guys in jeopardy if I had known something was in that product," he said.

Jackson filed suit against StarCaps in Alameda County Superior Court in California last month, seeking restitution for any lost salary and damages for "false advertising and unfair business practices."

But in issuing the suspensions, the league reiterated the section of its policy that reads: