David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Brace yourself ...

Defensive tackle David Onyemata is facing a suspension for part of the 2021 NFL season after testing positive for a banned susbstance.


Story: https://www.si.com/nfl/saints/news/d...nned-substance

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

LOL this season is going to be awful.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

He is going to test the supplements after burning a test... There is no excuse for this anymore, the players have adequate resources to line their bottles up for and find out whats good and whats bad.

He knew what he was doing.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

On the outset, couldn’t agree more. However, hope springs eternal with more than one name on that list!

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Cut bait. Trade for some mid or late picks. 2nd time in a year

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

It's not the 2nd time in a year. The previous 1 game suspension was in 2019 and was for marijuana. This is a completely different animal.

The Saints cannot afford to cut bait on their best interior defensive lineman. They are just going to have to suck it up and play without him for a few games.

SFIAH

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Bump ...

Per Nick Underhill, DO has been suspended for 6 games.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

He’ll appeal and get it reduced , unless RG rears his head yet again.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Unfortunate bump, but yes it's true!

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

What a disaster. Our interior D-Line is going to be awful.

A six game suspension means he tested positive for a banned substance and tried to mask or dilute it.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/f7...e8c92fec56.jpg

Now I really wish we'd drafted Barmore instead of Payton Turner.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

That was my thought. Almost as if the league suspends them for a certain number of games knowing they are going to lower it on appeal. Could be 3 or 4 when done.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

According to the official policy document a six game suspension is not related to any masking or dilution. It is the result of a "Positive Test Result for Anabolic Agent".

Players who violate the Policy will be subject to discipline by the Commissioner as outlined below.

Step One: The first time a Player violates this Policy by testing positive for a Prohibited Substance; attempting to substitute, dilute or adulterate a specimen; or manipulating a test result, he will be suspended without pay pursuant to the following schedule:

Positive Test Result for Stimulant, Diuretic or Masking Agent -- two regular and/or postseason games.

Positive Test Result for Anabolic Agent -- six regular and/or postseason games.

Positive Test Result for Prohibited Substance plus Diuretic or Masking Agent/Attempt to Substitute, Dilute or Adulterate Specimen/Attempt to Manipulate Test Result/Violation of Section 5 -- eight regular and/or postseason games

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

I like Tuttle but it ends there.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

So is it even possible to get it reduced now ?

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

I wouldn't think so unless they can show it was a tainted product explicitly okayed by the league. Onyemata did say they were testing all of his supplements to try to identify the one that caused the positive test.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Hopefully they'll find something in the supplement. Its been found plenty if times before that these can be tainted while supposedly fine for athlete. If he can prove that then theres a good chance of no suspension.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Yep & me too but Ninja Tuttle is a 3 tech that can play NT but not for 4 quarters (see Eagles game). The good thing is that the Saints front office brass/coaching staff have sufficient time to adjust & make necessary moves (signing another vet) if we need to. Just another challenge we'll have to overcome.

Even with losing David for a bunch of games, not having adequate corners (PRob/Crawley/PJ) on those boundaries is even scarier.

Big holes to fill but good organizations find a way.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Roger Gohell hates the Saints and I'll be surprised if it gets reduced.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

The Saints loved DT Da’shawn Hand in the 2018 draft. He’s become a bit of a forgotten man in Detroit with the drafting of Levi Onwuzurike and Alim McNeill to go with Michael Brockers. Might be an option to trade a late round pick for Hand.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Any relation to Norman?

Hand has been injured a lot. But I agree, he's still very young and has quite a bit of potential.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

I was curious as well...

Da'Shawn Hand


Hand was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fathered by Sharif Hand, who was a junior in high school when Da'Shawn was born.[2] Hand's uncle, Damone Boone, was a Parade All-American running back at West Springfield in Virginia in the mid-1990s.[3][4]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...8mskKpw_VnIsI2

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Therein lies the issue. The "list of approved supplements" is hosted by a third party, Aegis Shield. All they do is verify ingrediant labels do not contain a banned substance. If they don't have it in their database the player can submit a copy of the ingredient list. The problem is that sometimes the products are tainted by unlisted ingredients.

This is from the NFLPA's Drug Policies and Resources page:

"The NFLPA does not approve supplements. The AegisShield app is available to help players check the list of ingredients on supplement labels against the NFL’s list of banned substances. This does not mean that taking a supplement will be safe as far as the NFL is concerned. Supplements can contain substances not listed on the labels, and the NFL holds you responsible for anything in your bodies, even if you take a substance accidentally. The final responsibility rests with you to ensure that you do not take a banned substance."

These players are not taking something they know is banned for any competitive advantage. They would have to load up on something to gain anything material and then they would know there would be no way to avoid getting caught. I've heard that virtually every case deals with unlisted ingredients even on products listed as safe. The only way to be totally assured would be to avoid supplements altogether and that's not going to happen.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Substance abuse suspensions since 2010:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ootball_League

'10 - 20
'11 - 21
'12 - 40
'13 - 37
'14 - 41
'15 - 54
'16 - 55
'17 - 37
'18 - 31
'19 - 5
'20 - 2

I wonder the reasons for the spike and subsequent decrease in suspensions.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Get real, JP. Of course not. I'm saying nobody is stupid enough to knowingly take something that they know will cause a positive test. That is beyond ridiculous. That leaves taking something on Aegis Shield's approved list that was tainted or taking something that was not on the list, yet had an ingredient list NOT including a banned substance that was indeed present.

If the Onyemata camp was having all of his supplements tested to identify the culprit it would mean that they know none of the ingredient lists on said supplements included a banned substance.

I will repeat, this is the case in virtually every banned substance violation. Players have been gripping about this for years. I can't remember the player, but it was a few years back that he compared it to Russian Roulette. The companies that make these supplements also produce supplements for the general public that can contain the components banned for NFL players. Cross contamination is always a possibility. But, that is still on the player, fair or not.

Check out this story on banned substance contamination from February of last year.

Illegal Contact: Banned drugs found in athletic performance supplements

Nashville, Tennessee (InvestigateTV) – Taylor Lewan was worried about the impact playing professional football would have on his life after the game. Specifically, he said he was worried about his brain and being able to spend meaningful time with his young daughter as she grows up.

So, he took supplements with the goal of keeping his brain healthy while continuing to play a violent game. Those supplements got him into trouble.

The 6-foot-7, more than 300-pound offensive tackle has given and taken his share of hits in his six seasons with the Tennessee Titans.

He started the 2018 season with a collision during week one that put him in the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Lewan then started the 2019 season missing four games after the NFL suspended him. The league hit him with the penalty after he tested positive for banned substances during a May drug screening.

He tested positive for Ostarine, which is a drug that has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for more than a decade. The drug is sometimes illegally marketed and sold as a supplement for body-building.

But Lewan said during a team-hosted news conference that he didn’t intentionally take Ostarine. He blamed contamination. He said the supplements he took with advice from a nutritionist and his doctors were tainted.

“I just wanted to make it clear to [fans] that I didn’t take anything knowingly,” Lewan said. “I’ve never done anything knowingly that would cheat the game.”

Lewan is far from the only high-caliber athlete who has tested positive for banned substances and claimed they had no intention of doping. Notably, Clemson went into the 2019 national championship football game missing three players – all found with Ostarine in their systems.

“I love this team and my family too much to even think about putting a substance like that in my body,” said Dexter Lawrence, who played for Clemson at the time and now plays for the New York Giants. “I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know how it got there.”

And, it’s a plausible scenario, according to scientists who study supplements. There is repeated evidence that unintentional contamination happens, particularly because of haphazard manufacturing processes.

Some athletes have proven their contamination cases in court or to their sports organizations. Scientists unaffiliated with teams or specific sports have found supplements laced with heavy metals, mold – and steroids and steroid-similar compounds.

Those contaminated supplements, according to athletes, sports attorneys and scientists are easily found online. But they are also found in grocery stores, sports nutrition stores, and gyms.

“The dietary supplement industry has some of the finest manufacturing facilities and brands in the world, but it also has a low threshold for entry and has some pretty scary things out there,” said David Trosin, who manages the dietary supplement certification program for NSF International, the laboratory that helped develop the national standards for the industry.

When Trosin began working for NSF about 12 years ago, WADA had banned 108 substances. There are now 272 banned, with WADA continuously researching and adding more.

Some of those drugs, such as Ostarine, are not only banned in professional, collegiate and Olympic sports – because they are not FDA-approved, they are also illegal to sell for human consumption.

But InvestigateTV has found them to be readily available to purchase, which experts said is why the substances are popping up in other supplements. A manufacturer making a banned substance may taint a batch of another supplement because of poor quality control.

For most people, a professional athletic career is not at stake. But NSF said anyone buying supplements should be concerned about contamination.

For nearly a decade, Deuce McAllister suited up for the New Orleans Saints, the team he’d grown up watching as a kid growing up in Mississippi. He was a first-round draft pick in 2001 and a powerhouse running back in the NFL, frequently leading his division in yards.

But toward the end of his career, he made headlines with two fellow Saints players for something else: Violating the league’s drug policy.

It all happened, he said, because he was trying to drop weight.

“We were in the weight room, as far as lifting. You would go in the sauna, the steam room, and try to sweat the weight out, sweat away the extra pounds,” McAllister said.

For McAllister, that meant staying at 218 pounds when he began his career and 237 by the time he retired. The penalty if he didn’t hit weight: He owed the team money.

“You had to weigh in. And if you were over weight, your prescribed weight by the coach as well as the strength and conditioning coach, you got fined for it,” McAllister said.

In trying to keep his weight down, McAllister turned to using diuretics. He said for four years he’d used the same product, as had many other athletes he knew. But in 2008, he said that same diuretic tripped his drug test.

He tested positive for a specific diuretic that is banned because it can be used to mask steroid use. McAllister said his usual diuretic was contaminated, and he was devastated because he said he played clean.

“I never wanted to cheat the game,” he said. “If I knew that it was something that was going to put a negative stain on my name and what I had worked for, I’d never have [taken the diuretic].”

McAllister said he even had the product checked by trainers.

“They sent it over, the product was tested, and … not that particular batch was tainted, but another batch was tainted,” he said.

He also said the particular product was easily accessible for all consumers like many products marketed as supplements.


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There's much more in the article documenting cases of tainted supplements and such.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Probably because the original list of banned substances back in 2008 was numbered at 108. As of February last year it had been increased to 272 banned substances. Most likely recently the products containing those substances have been identified to the players better.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

What are you talking about? What do you mean "misdirection"? Be specific.

:confused:

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

Of course he does. He was taking supplements just like the vast majority of NFL players. One of them was obviously containing a banned substance. That's on him.

You are the one rushing to judgement. The players have FAR too much to lose to knowingly take a banned substance. However, as that article points out, it is fairly common for supplements to be tainted.

It takes way more than a trace amount of any banned substance to have any performance enhancing capability. That is a fact. There is no way you could ever mask that much. That why it makes no sense to ever knowingly take anything.

Onyemata is guilty of breaking the rules. It matters not if it was unknowingly as is in virtually every banned substance case.

That is unfair, however.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance
 

I didn't go in length on any such thing, JP. Where are you coming up with that crap?

Besides, if you would go to that link I included on Aegis Shield you'd see that they also provide clearance for products not on their preapproved list by going over the ingredient list of the product to confirm that a banned substance isn't on the list. What they do not do is guarantee is that any product they give an okay to, on the preapproved list or not, will not be tainted with an unlisted banned substance.

Re: David Onyemata Reveals Testing Positive for Banned Substance