Pead suspended one game

After a disappointing rookie season, Rams running back Isaiah Pead's 2013 campaign is off to an even less auspicious start. Becoming the third member of the Rams' 2012 draft class to get in trouble this offseason, Pead has been suspended for opening week for violating the NFL's "substances of abuse" policy.

One of the mysteries of the recent suspensions affecting Pead and fellow 2012 draft classmate Rokevious Watkins is where the one-week suspension comes from. I've got an answer, thanks to the Kansas City Star (and Google). When Tamba Hali was suspended for opening week last season, Adam Teicher reported:

Unlike the NFL’s PED policy, which calls for a four-game suspension for a first-time violation, penalties for substance-abuse violations are handled on a case-by-case basis by the league and commissioner Roger Goodell, according to NFL senior vice president of communications Greg Aiello.

Watkins was said not to have failed a drug test, but that doesn't appear to make any difference, because Hali did, and got just the same one-week suspension. And I think it's safe to guess America's #1 cash crop plays a role. Bears DT Nate Collins and Lions RB Mikel Leshoure got suspensions at the beginning of last season that correlated with offseason marijuana possession charges. And we're discussing all first offenses here to my knowledge. Jagwires WR Justin Blackmon is suspended for the first 4 weeks of this season, but that's a second offense, for DUI.

It will be interesting to see if Jeff Fisher publicly defends Pead as emphatically as he did Watkins. Fisher came right out and essentially said he thought he Watkins got a raw deal. The Rams have apparently also known about Pead's impending suspension for some time. For all we know, the two could have been picked up while they were hanging out together. Watkins could have gotten in trouble for weed that was Pead's, or they both could have gotten in trouble for weed that was somebody else's. (Somebody PLEASE say they know Janoris Jenkins' recent whereabouts.)

As for my previous inability to figure out how marijuana could be involved without very public arrest reports, well, apparently, some teams are better at keeping player arrests quiet than others. Furthermore, as of about three hours ago, possession of "small" amounts of marijuana is now enforced as a misdemeanor in the city of St. Louis. This kind of arrest just isn't the big news it used to be. Hooray for lowered standards!

In any event, that's now two potential starters the Rams are down for opening week. Still sounds like Rams Park could use more Pillars than just Scott the rookie free agent WR, huh.

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