NEW YORK — HGH testing is coming to the NFL this season.
Player representatives to the union voted Friday to implement testing for human growth hormone for the 2014 NFL season. HGH testing was originally agreed upon in 2011, but the players have balked at the science in the testing and the appeals process for positive tests.
They also approved a league proposal to significantly increase the threshold for positive marijuana tests. Some players have complained that the NFL threshold is so low that anyone within the vicinity of people smoking marijuana could test positive.
Overall changes are retroactive for players suspended under previous policies, as well as for those in the appeal process. Those players, presumably including Browns receiver Josh Gordon (suspended for the season) and Broncos receiver Wes Welker (four games), are subject to standards of the new policies. Their suspensions could be reduced — no immediate announcements were made regarding those suspensions.
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