Report: two USC LB test positive for Steroids (unconfirmed)

[FreeTedWilliams]

The guys who test positive for pot, you really, really have to think about, they absolutely KNEW this test was coming, and still they tested positive. Now I know that they are not the only guys at the combine that smoke pot, they are just the only ones stupid enough to not stop it in time.......

The steriods are a very big thing, look what happened to Mandarich and "The Boz" when they were forced off the juice. You really have to pause about that. I bet that both of them, Cushing and Matthews, fall out of the 1st round.

 

[BradyManny]

This hurts us, unfortunately I think. I wasn't into Cushing or Matthews too much, now they likely won't be drafted before #23, so rather than pushing 2 guys that might fit down to us, a Barwin/Sintim/English might go before #23 when before they had little chance.

As for its "no big deal" they tested positive for steroids...Cushing, perhaps. But Matthews? The guy was nowhere on the draft map before one year of not-so-overwhelming production. He came out of nowhere, and if he did test positive for roids, it does put him in a different light. I wouldn't spend anything earlier than a 5th or 6th on Matthews if this test is true.

 

[TripleOption]

Marijuana use isn't a problem.

Righhht. Who wouldn't want some guy on their team that needs to smoke weed so badly he would throw away your season for it.

Marijuana and sports don't mix.

 

[BradyManny]

Righhht. Who wouldn't want some guy on their team that needs to smoke weed so badly he would throw away your season for it.

Marijuana and sports don't mix.

I'm not necessarily going to argue that, but I do have to point out that Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer to ever walk the planet, use(s) marijuana, and apparently somewhere between 30-70% of NBA players use marijuana.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

dope should be legal........

but I wouldn't exactly call it a performance enhance when it comes to football

But it's not so can we just skip muddying the waters with that same tired whine.

And for those who say it never hurt anyone, just ask Tom Brady - cost him an entire season because Kevin Faulk failed to exercise discipline during his brief pro football career which is a requisite in winning football.

And that's the message here for the positive for non steroid crowd - football doesn't matter enough to some guys to give up their weed for a decade. To others it matters so much they are willing to cheat the game and possibly risk their lives to get a shot at being drafted or improving their financial bottom line.

 

[patchick]

This hurts us, unfortunately I think. I wasn't into Cushing or Matthews too much, now they likely won't be drafted before #23, so rather than pushing 2 guys that might fit down to us, a Barwin/Sintim/English might go before #23 when before they had little chance.

As for its "no big deal" they tested positive for steroids...Cushing, perhaps. But Matthews? The guy was nowhere on the draft map before one year of not-so-overwhelming production. He came out of nowhere, and if he did test positive for roids, it does put him in a different light. I wouldn't spend anything earlier than a 5th or 6th on Matthews if this test is true.

This pretty much sums up my thinking. First off: yess, this is just a rumor. But this particular type of rumor, with this timing, has almost always proven credible in the past (e.g. Luis Castillo). And frankly, given that both players' bodies elicited gasps at weigh-ins, it wouldn't exactly be a shock.

BUT...I didn't want them anyway, so anything that pushes them down the boards just makes my targets harder to get.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Righhht. Who wouldn't want some guy on their team that needs to smoke weed so badly he would throw away your season for it.

Marijuana and sports don't mix.

tell that to robert parish

 

[JoeB]

I'll believe it if it comes out on a real website. Who cares if they smoke weed? They are in college. Once they leave I'm sure they will stop since they will be tested for it.

 

[apple strudel]

Righhht. Who wouldn't want some guy on their team that needs to smoke weed so badly he would throw away your season for it.

Marijuana and sports don't mix.

Yeah, LOL. That's a tough argument to win, IMO. What percentage of professional athletes smoke dope? I'd say they're mixing very well as we speak.

Of course, you can't get suspended for it as it hurts your team.

I'd say the steroids reports is bad since it essentially takes 2 LBs off the table. It'll be very interesting to see where these guys get drafted now.

That said, I'd be surprised if they were high on our boards. We tend to be good at getting athletes whose frames have some room to grow and not the other way around.

Does this help Maualuga?

 

[patchick]

I'll believe it if it comes out on a real website. Who cares if they smoke weed? They are in college. Once they leave I'm sure they will stop since they will be tested for it.

But that's exactly the issue. It's not about an occasional smoke, it's about knowing many months in advance that a HUGELY important drug test is coming, and not being able to lay off long enough to pass. It doesn't speak well to your maturity and self control -- and it sends you into the league one step into the drug program, leaving little room for error.

 

[apple strudel]

I'll believe it if it comes out on a real website.

FWIW, PFT says the guy who runs nfldraftbible.com is also the GM of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

It'd be pretty foolish of him to post false information given his visibility. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't; we've seen quite a lot of foolish reporting the last few years.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

But it's not so can we just skip muddying the waters with that same tired whine.

And for those who say it never hurt anyone, just ask Tom Brady - cost him an entire season because Kevin Faulk failed to exercise discipline during his brief pro football career which is a requisite in winning football.

And that's the message here for the positive for non steroid crowd - football doesn't matter enough to some guys to give up their weed for a decade. To others it matters so much they are willing to cheat the game and possibly risk their lives to get a shot at being drafted or improving their financial bottom line.

blah, blah..............your justification for cheating is ridiculous......... as is your assertion that faulk would have even been on the field for that play had he been on the active roster

cheating is cheating...........from the steroid consumers to the video-tapers

 

[apple strudel]

And for those who say it never hurt anyone, just ask Tom Brady - cost him an entire season because Kevin Faulk failed to exercise discipline during his brief pro football career which is a requisite in winning football.

LOL - I missed this but it's too choice not to immortalize in a quote! As if you have any reason to think that weed had anything to do with it other than pulling things out of your ass! Just lmfao, when you make a ridiculous claim you've got to at least try and prove it.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

And for those who say it never hurt anyone, just ask Tom Brady - cost him an entire season because Kevin Faulk failed to exercise discipline during his brief pro football career which is a requisite in winning football.

Ummm . . . for all we know, if Kevin Faulk had been there, the end result could have been even worse.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Ummm . . . for all we know, if Kevin Faulk had been there, the end result could have been even worse.

faulk is actually pretty good at pass pro, but it was first down, and morris is the usual answer in that spot.......

but then the justification for cheating......classic

 

[patchick]

Let's try to get this thread back to Cushing, Matthews and steroids rather than the eternal weed debate. (You always have the B.J. Raji thread for that!)

Let's assume for the moment that the Cushing/Matthews reports are true. What's the draft impact? Castillo was still drafted in the 1st, but IMO he was in a little more credible situation to claim he just made a bad decision trying to come back from injury. He wasn't an incredible physical specimen, more of a classice widebody DT.

The problem for Cushing and Matthews is that they already carried that "manufactured athlete" label, with bodybuilder physiques. Cushing has already had a series of the kind of soft-tissue injuries that are always a risk with steroid use. Matthews emerged from obscurity in a hurry, and a big part of his appeal was supposed to be "intangibles" and "bloodlines."

So if the reports are true, I could see both players hitting a serious draft freefall.

 

[mayoclinic]

Let's try to get this thread back to Cushing, Matthews and steroids rather than the eternal weed debate. (You always have the B.J. Raji thread for that!)

Let's assume for the moment that the Cushing/Matthews reports are true. What's the draft impact? Castillo was still drafted in the 1st, but IMO he was in a little more credible situation to claim he just made a bad decision trying to come back from injury. He wasn't an incredible physical specimen, more of a classice widebody DT.

The problem for Cushing and Matthews is that they already carried that "manufactured athlete" label, with bodybuilder physiques. Cushing has already had a series of the kind of soft-tissue injuries that are always a risk with steroid use. Matthews emerged from obscurity in a hurry, and a big part of his appeal was supposed to be "intangibles" and "bloodlines."

So if the reports are true, I could see both players hitting a serious draft freefall.

I would agree. I'm just not sure what "freefall" means for either. The 2nd round? The 3rd?

It's disappointing news for me, as I was hoping both of those guys would be gone before #23.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Let's try to get this thread back to Cushing, Matthews and steroids rather than the eternal weed debate. (You always have the B.J. Raji thread for that!)

Let's assume for the moment that the Cushing/Matthews reports are true. What's the draft impact? Castillo was still drafted in the 1st, but IMO he was in a little more credible situation to claim he just made a bad decision trying to come back from injury. He wasn't an incredible physical specimen, more of a classice widebody DT.

The problem for Cushing and Matthews is that they already carried that "manufactured athlete" label, with bodybuilder physiques. Cushing has already had a series of the kind of soft-tissue injuries that are always a risk with steroid use. Matthews emerged from obscurity in a hurry, and a big part of his appeal was supposed to be "intangibles" and "bloodlines."

So if the reports are true, I could see both players hitting a serious draft freefall.

It also means that—if the Patriots truly want a first-round OLB (after all, they may well think that they've already got Vrabel's replacement on the roster)—they may have to trade up if there's one or two particular players they have their eyes on.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Let's try to get this thread back to Cushing, Matthews and steroids rather than the eternal weed debate. (You always have the B.J. Raji thread for that!)

Let's assume for the moment that the Cushing/Matthews reports are true. What's the draft impact? Castillo was still drafted in the 1st, but IMO he was in a little more credible situation to claim he just made a bad decision trying to come back from injury. He wasn't an incredible physical specimen, more of a classice widebody DT.

The problem for Cushing and Matthews is that they already carried that "manufactured athlete" label, with bodybuilder physiques. Cushing has already had a series of the kind of soft-tissue injuries that are always a risk with steroid use. Matthews emerged from obscurity in a hurry, and a big part of his appeal was supposed to be "intangibles" and "bloodlines."

So if the reports are true, I could see both players hitting a serious draft freefall.

the biggest thing would be that matthews suddenly becomes a 4-3 LB simply because he is already maxed out...........he stand no chance as a 3-4 OLB at 240lbs, but he could even drop down to 230 or so and still be very effective as a WLB

you can pretty much say the same thing about cushing, also.......

but it really depends......there were plenty of mocks sending them to 4-3 teams anyway

it makes barwin at 23 more plausible

 

[apple strudel]

I mentioned it earlier but it does it help Maualuga? It doesn't make his 40 any better, but it he'll probably stand out as a natural football player. Also, it helps that he isn't on anything in the middle of a culture of performance enhancing drugs (not that you get tons of good citizen points in the NFL).