Kenyan Drake wins weekly rushing award; is subjected to ‘random’ drug test

He is named the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week and then must go in for a urine test.

For Arizona Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake’s stunning performance on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, he was rewarded with two things, although one is technically unrelated to the game.

After a 137-yard, four-touchdown game against the Cleveland Browns, Drake was named the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week for Week 15, as voted on by fans for the best performance by a running back.

As a result, A $2,000 donation will be made to the USO in Drake’s name through FedEx Cares. During the 2019-2020 NFL season, FedEx Cares will donate a total of $200,000 to the USO Pathfinder program, which provides resources and personalized services to assist service members and military spouses in their transition back to civilian life.

Drake also received notice of something else this week. He got a memo letting him know he was up for a drug test under the league’s drug-testing policy.

He shared the memo via his Instagram stories, which was caught by AZCentral reporter Katherine Fitzgerald. Drake clearly doesn’t think his selection was completely random, as noted by the quotation marks and emojis.

The league alleges the process for drug tests is completely random and generated by some algorithm. However, there have been many anecdotal cases where a player has a big game — perhaps a better performance than the norm — and then the following week his number comes up for a random drug test.

Coincidence? It is supposed to be, but do we know for sure?

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 252:

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Ep. 251:

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