Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams was suspended by the NFL for six games in March for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In response, Williams filed a lawsuit that said his specimen was mishandled so badly that the collector eventually was fired.
But according to court documents collected by the Denver Post, Williams actually flunked a second drug test a month later, and that, in a third test, a bottle fell from his waist area while he was collecting his urine sample and Williams attempted to kick it away.
Basically, the NFL has said that Williams was trying to manipulate the test multiple times.
Williams’ response, via his attorney Peter Ginsberg: the NFL never disciplined Williams for the second test. And as far as the bottle incident?
“This other allegation unfortunately reflects the irresponsible way the NFL is going about its business these days,” Ginsberg said. “The NFL made the suggestion but offered no evidence, refused to present anyone involved in either this specimen collection process or the testing of that specimen and simply made an allegation that has made its way into the evidentiary record and the media.
“It’s the wrong way to go about addressing a serious matter.”
It’s also been presented in court that Williams might not have used human urine in his tests.
From The Post:
When the sample was analyzed for performance-enhancing drugs, testers flagged it because, as one toxicologist later wrote in an e-mail … “The specimen does not contain any endogenous steroids. The profile is not consistent with a normal, healthy male urine specimen.”
As the February letter explains, endogenous steroids are naturally produced by the body and found in human urine. Their absence in the sample caused testers to conclude that Williams had provided non-human urine. The distinction wouldn’t have been made in a “substances of abuse” test because such tests do not look for endogenous steroids. Instead, the “substances of abuse” test would likely report a negative result for drugs.
(Side note: There is a semi-underground industry devoted to producing synthetic urine that can be used to beat drug tests. The court documents do not make clear whether Williams is accused of using these products.)
In February, hearing officer Harold Henderson said, “The evidence is clear that Williams was involved in three separate incidents of attempted substitution of a specimen.” Ginsberg has said Henderson is biased because he’s a longtime NFL employee.
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