There’s been a lot of speculation about New York Giants receiver Golden Tate ever since early in training camp when it was revealed that Tate might be suspended for taking a banned substance – it seems to have been prescribed to him rather innocently, at a fertility clinic, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a banned substance nonetheless, at least in the eyes of the NFL. The punishment for the crime? A four game suspension starting in week one of the regular season.
Tate immediately appealed the suspension and there was some talk over whether or not the appeal would be accepted, but the general consensus was that the NFL would stick to the established precedent of not making exceptions to their substance policy because of freak cases like this one. And that’s exactly what happened. The league stuck to their existing policies and Tate lost his appeal, meaning he won’t be able to make his regular season debut until week five.
— New York Giants (@Giants) August 13, 2019
With the Giants already having lost Odell Beckham Jr. when they traded him to the Cleveland Browns, the team is down to one when it comes to their star receivers – Sterling Shepard is on path to return in week one from a fractured thumb. Russell Shepard and Cody Latimer are expected to play next to him for the first four games after Corey Coleman was eliminated from the running by a torn ACL in early training camp, which leaves the Giants receiving for the first four games as something of a relative unknown.
Tate losing the suspension isn’t good luck but it’s also the expected outcome based on the situation. How will the team do without him? We’ll see – it’s better to lose a player for the first four games than for the last four, after all.