NFLPA player reps have been told to put time aside for a conference call Friday, during which they'll review and potentially vote through the league's latest drug policy proposal, according to union president Eric Winston and spokesman George Atallah.
The league proposal, received Thursday night by the union, addressed the issues the NFLPA had with language on human growth hormone testing and neutral arbitration earlier this week. The union held a conference call Tuesday night, but didn't find the league's proposal at that time to be strong enough to put to a vote.
Per two union sources, the NFLPA will not put any proposal to a vote unless leadership is convinced it will pass convincingly, which is why Thursday's night optimism over a Friday vote is significant. By the letter of the law, a simple majority of the quorum of the 32 player reps would carry the policy through.
According to a high-ranking union source, a vote is expected, another sign that an agreement is coming.
The immediate fallout will likely come with the reinstatement of certain players who will benefit from retroactive assessment of penalties. While each case will be considered individually, those who failed tests during the 2014 league year (Wes Welker, Orlando Scandrick, Dion Jordan, Reshad Jones) who wouldn't have been suspended under the new policy would likely be reinstated immediately. Cases like that of Browns receiver Josh Gordon -- who failed his test during the 2013 league year -- are more complicated.
The sides cleared a major hurdle earlier in the week when the league dropped its request to have a mandatory one-game suspension for players upon DUI arrests, without due process. There is expected to be agreement on two-game suspensions for DUI convictions.
The threshold for positive marijuana tests is expected to go from 15 ng/ml to 35 ng/ml on the A sample, and offseason amphetamine-positive tests are slated to go from the performance enhancing drug policy to substances of abuse, which is where Welker and Scandrick will have their suspensions lifted.
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