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Jets OLB Brandon Copeland suspended four games

The hits keep coming to the New York Jets' linebacker corps.

Outside linebacker Brandon Copeland, who started 10 games for Gang Green last year, was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The suspension comes less than a week after New York also lost starting inside linebacker Avery Williamson to a season-ending torn ACL.

Copeland is free to return to the team on Oct. 7 after New York's Week 4 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

An undrafted free agent out of Penn, Copeland joined the Detroit Lions in 2015, spending three seasons with the club before joining the Jets in 2018. After his breakout year, when he tallied five sacks and 14 QB hits in 10 starts, Copeland signed another one-year deal with the Jets.

Despite that great season, Copeland was no sure thing to make the roster. He played deep into New York's second preseason game and had been listed as a potential cut candidate by some local outlets.

The Jets will have to replace Copeland with Frankie Luvu, Jachai Polite and whoever they pick up off the waiver wire for the first quarter of the campaign.

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God’s Plan > My Plan I’ve spent the better part of 28 years building and working on my legacy. This offseason, I began taking a supplement AFTER multiple verifications that it was safe for me to use. Unfortunately, this supplement was contaminated with a banned substance - NOT on its label. Regardless of the reason, League policy says I am responsible for what is in my body. I’ve had a roller coaster ride of a career and all of my previous test results have been negative. I trust that the ppl who know my heart understand that I would never intentionally take a banned substance. To be quite honest, Im very fond of hard work and wouldn’t want success with the artificial help. Having to be away from my dream for something that was beyond my control will be tough for me however in similar fashion to how I handle other obstacles in my life I will approach this one with a “WATCH WHAT I DO WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY” mentality because my life dreams/missions still continue. Although I can NEVER make up for time loss on the field and away from my teammates who have become family, my team and I will be taking the necessary steps to rectify this situation to the fullest extent of the law. Understanding that God does not make mistakes, I will take this opportunity to thank Him for my blessings - the good, the bad and of course, the ugly. This is simply a chapter in my journey that is still being written. And as always, never let the obstacle become bigger than the OPPORTUNITY 🙏🏽

A post shared by Brandon Copeland (@bcope51) on

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