Cardinals linebacker Marcus Bailey is pushing back against the NFL's six-game suspension as both the player and his defense team call the league's performance-enhancing substance policy “unforgiving and strict.” .
Bailey was found to have violated that policy and will be suspended by the league until at least Jan. 5.
The linebacker accepted the suspension but denied knowingly taking drugs banned by the NFL.
“I would never have intentionally taken a prohibited substance.” Bailey wrote in a post about X. “Although this was clearly a contamination issue and only 0.05 nanograms were detected, due to the NFL's no-fault policy, it was in the best interest of my team and me to accept the suspension now.”
In a statement released earlier in the evening, Bailey's attorney Rick Collins used similar language to explain the league's policy.
“The NFL has a zero-tolerance strict liability policy.” Collins said. “Each athlete is responsible if a prohibited substance is detected, no matter how it got there. There are no reduced sanctions for contamination. Most banned substances have no threshold for partial or complete exemption from their consequences if inadvertently ingested. Marcus Meanwhile, we are investigating the source of trace contaminants. has chosen to accept the suspension.
Bailey appeared in one game for the Cardinals this season, appearing in Arizona's 17-15 win over the Chargers on Oct. 21.
He played 73 percent of the special teams snaps.
Prior to that, Bailey spent the past four seasons with the Bengals, recording 73 tackles in 60 games.
He was part of the Cincinnati team that will play in the Super Bowl in 2021.
Bailey was drafted by the Bengals in the seventh round out of Purdue in 2020.
