Mark Ingram is fighting an uphill battle with suspension

The New Orleans Saints got a stunning bit of news on Tuesday, when running back Mark Ingram was suspended for four games due to a PED violation.

Mark Ingram says he is going to fight his four-game ban for performance enhancing drugs. Good for him, but he’s facing an uphill battle.

Ingram, who formed a dynamic tandem with Alvin Kamara in 2017, is now out for the first quarter of the season, although the former Alabama Crimson Tide star says he won’t go down without a serious rebuttal of the charges, per NFL.com.

"“At the end of the 2017 season, as a result of a NFL mandated random drug test, Mark Ingram tested positive for a substance that was not a performance enhancing substance, nor an illegal substance, but a substance in fact permissible with the proper use exemption with the NFL,” Jones said in a statement obtained by NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. “He has vigorously challenged the test results through the arbitration process. The arbitrator’s Opinion is due on or before Wednesday, May 16. Upon having the opportunity to review the arbitrator’s opinion, we will explore what further options are needed.”"

Other players have tried to fight suspensions in the past and occasionally, appeals can knock down the sentence. For example, Le’Veon Bell was suspended for four games to begin the 2016 season for substance abuse, but saw it dropped to three contests.

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Perhaps Ingram can have a similar outcome, but the NFL won’t budge without significant evidence to the contrary. Should the ban be upheld, the Saints will be far more reliant on Kamara, who never had more than 12 carries in a game as a rookie.

New Orleans opens the season at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before taking on the Cleveland Browns at home. The final two games of Ingram’s suspension would cover road dates with the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants.