BEREA, Ohio (AP) -- Browns offensive tackle Ryan Tucker was suspended Friday for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's steroid policy.
Tucker, who missed part of last season with what the team called a "mental disorder," will be allowed to stay with the Browns during training camp and the preseason. However, he will not be permitted to participate in team activities once the suspension without pay starts on Sept. 1, coach Romeo Crennel said.
He is eligible to return to the Browns' roster on Oct. 1, one day after the Browns host the Baltimore Ravens.
The 32-year-old Tucker has made 62 starts with the Browns since joining them as a free agent in 2002.
"I didn't intend to compromise the integrity of the NFL, my team," Tucker said following Friday's morning practice. "I want to apologize to the fans, my family. It's been a long road. I was pretty down and out last year and my attempt to come back I took a banned substance.
"I'm going to fulfill this punishment and get it behind me."
One of Cleveland's leaders on the field and in the locker room, Tucker talked about "getting the respect and trust back of my teammates" earlier this week but he wouldn't elaborate on what he meant.
Tucker was placed on the reserve-non-football-illness list for the final eight games last season. At the time, the Browns said Tucker's disorder was one "commonly experienced by the general population as well as by professional athletes."
Tucker has never given any details about his illness.
"I was down and out last year," he said. "Point in time I didn't know if playing again was a possibility. The bottom line is I'm healthy now, my family's healthy and happy, people are behind me here and my family's behind me."
Saw on ESPN this morning where Quinn and LJ are working out together amidst their respective holdouts. LJ is losing 14 grand per day, and says he's prepared to sit out the entire season if need be. This is not cool.
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Wet-Brained Fucktard wrote:I know we here like to talk shit and we do tend to get, how you say, immature at times. At some points, the banter on a board like this can be somewhat childish. It happens.
