The Pittsburgh Steelers will be without wide receiver Martavis Bryant for the next year after a suspension handed down from the NFL.
With NFL free agency in high gear and the annual draft just over a month away, the Pittsburgh Steelers may have to change their plan when it comes to the wide receiver position. Martavis Bryant will be out for the next year after accepting a year-long suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.
Sources confirmed that Martavis Bryant, who just completed his second year in the league, will not fight the decision handed down by the NFL that will keep him off the field for the 2016 season:
Sources confirm Steelers WR Martavis Bryant accepts one-year suspension, violated NFL substance-abuse policy, will begin serving immediately
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 14, 2016
After the decision was handed down late last week, people close to Bryant said he would indeed appeal the ruling from the league. Bryant missed the first five games of the 2015 season (four of them being for a suspension from the NFL for a different violation of their substance abuse policy). For the remainder of the season, Bryant caught 50 balls for the Steelers for 765 yards with six touchdowns.
His absence will give more chances to some of the Steelers’ other young receivers, including Sammie Coates (assuming Pittsburgh doesn’t go out and sign a free agent receiver or take one early in the 2016 Draft). Players such as Ohio State’s Michael Thomas and TCU’s Josh Doctson could fall to the team later in the first round.
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