We're seven months away from meaningful football, but Nick Boyle's 2016 season is already off to a rough start.
The second-year Ravens tight end has been suspended 10 games without pay for violating the NFL Policy and Program for performance-enhancing substances, the team announced.
His latest mishap serves as the second PED-related punishment for Boyle after he was suspended for the final four games of last season. It's not a great look for a player who hauled in just 18 catches as a rookie.
Still, Boyle brought value to the team as a fifth-round pick before his rookie campaign was short-circuited. A decent blocker, the former Delaware standout drew rave reviews from John Harbaugh as "one of the gems of the draft class," but the Ravens coach also hoped in December that Boyle would learn from his initial league-mandated punishment.
"He was telling me how stupid it was, and I agreed," Harbaugh said at the time, per the team's official website. "It was pretty dumb. Hopefully, he'll grow and learn from that."
Instead of a fresh start, though, Boyle must wonder if he still has a spot on this team after Friday's announced blunder. With Crockett Gillmore emerging as a playmaker, Maxx Williams waiting in the wings and Dennis Pitta still hoping to make a comeback, Boyle's future in Baltimore is anything but secure.
