A year ago, Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid suggested that the NFL’s random drug testing policy wasn’t necessarily random at all, implying he was a target of the league.
Fast forward to this week and former New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who now plays for the Cleveland Browns, is echoing Reid’s sentiments.
“[The NFL] made me come in Monday when we had an off day. Had a drug test,” Beckham said, via Cleveland.com. “Made me come in Thursday after the game. Had another drug test.
“Nobody is getting tested like me. I know people who didn’t get tested for five months in the offseason and I’m getting tested every time.”
By the very nature of the system being randomized, some players will get tested more than others. Some will be tested repeatedly and others will never have to fill a cup to the yellow line — that’s just how a randomizer works.
Still, Beckham has felt like a target of the NFL for years and it has to do with a lot more than random performance-enhancing drugs checks — a test Beckham has never failed, by the way.
But the league maintains it has no control over the random names that are chosen for tests.
“Neither the union or the league are involved in the random selection of players to be tested,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy told Cleveland.com. “By means of a computer program, the independent administrator determines which 10 players will be randomly selected each week.”
An independent investigation into Reid’s claim revealed no wrongdoing, and Beckham is free to request a similar inquiry.
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