Houston Linebacker Brian Cushing Tests Positive, Keeps Award

[Polaroid]

Brian Cushing, the Houston Texans linebacker, won a second vote on Wednesday which saw him keep his Associated Press NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award despite it being revealed that he tested positive for a banned substance last week. Cushing, taken by the Texans with their #15 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, played his college career at USC and had previously denied the use of performance enhancing substances prior to being drafted.

On May 7, it was announced that Cushing was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season following a positive test last September which violated the NFL performance enhancing substances policy. Cushing claimed it was for a non-steroid and it was subsequently clarified that he tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a fertility drug used by women to induce ovulation and also used by steroid users to restore their body's production of testosterone after coming off a steroid cycle, most famously the substance that earned Manny Ramirez a 50 game ban in 2009.

Cushing posted up impressive numbers in his rookie season with 133 tackles, four sacks, four interceptions as well as the first safety scored by a Houston Texan since 2002. The hastily organized re-vote was scrambled together in two days on the basis that the voters were unaware of the positive test at the original time of voting. In the re-vote, Cushing lost 21 of the 39 votes he won in the original poll but still 18 voters had him in first place to take the award over Jarius Bird, the safety of the Buffalo Bills, and Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews. It would seem that a cash rich industry such as the NFL should really have a quicker process in place to ensure that by the time voters are trying to determine the season awards, they are aware of which players aren't in good standing with the NFL.

.

 

[senco78]

so if he tested positive last Sept for HCG then why is it just now coming out?

 

[Polaroid]

That's one glaringly odd thing; the other is why he still managed to win the award in the second vote.

 

[Mudcat]

I would have voted against him.

 

[mcbaseball10]

Those side-by-side pictures are pretty ridiculous.

 

[Bread]

Him sexy.

 

[kato]

it's pete carroll's fault

 

[MrMonkey]

Sounds like 2010 won't be as good of a year for him and being one of the better players in the league is probably finished? These guys must try all kinds of new things hoping not to get caught? Probably been doing it forever but would you do it for the money if the opportunity presented itself? Right investments and he's set for life unless he spends it as fast as he gets it?


Cushing’s contract

As the 15th pick in the 2009 draft (and the seventh of nine picks in the top 19 represented by CAA), Cushing received the following guarantee:

Salary: $310,000
Roster bonus: $1.206M
One-time NLTBE: $2.919M
Option bonus: $6M

The total guarantee is $10.435 million, and the total pre-escalator package is $14M. Compared to the 15th pick in the 2008 draft, tackle Branden Albert(notes) of the Chiefs, Cushing received an increase of 13.5 percent on the guarantee and 10.7 percent on the total package.

The Houston linebacker has already earned most of this guarantee. He earned the roster bonus as of Aug. 7 of last year and the salary throughout the 2009 season. And having played in 35 percent of the Texans’ defensive plays last year, he earned the $2.919M one-time incentive, to be paid within 15 days of the opening of training camp this season.

The $6M option bonus has also been earned, with half paid. The Texans exercised the option in March, triggering a $3M payment to Cushing on the 20th day of the 2010 league year (March 25), with the other $3M due March 15, 2011.

As for any forfeiture recovery option for the Texans, the lack of a signing bonus makes that difficult. With the favorable treatment of option bonuses for players due to the Ashley Lelie(notes) decision, that money appears to be safe for Cushing.

The $93,000 penalty

So what is Cushing’s financial penalty for the four-game suspension? He will lose 4/17ths of his second-year salary of $395,000, or $93,000.

Had he accepted his suspension last season, he would have lost 4/17ths of his rookie salary of $310,000, or $73,000. The appeal was worth $20,000 to him.

Cushing obviously has other issues to deal with besides money, but with nearly $11M in earnings by the end of this season, his bank account can withstand the loss of $93,000 for his violation of the NFL policy for steroids and related substances.

Not bad for 2 years work!

 

[mcbaseball10]

Mr. M. Only thing that might be missing from the equation is possible endorsement deals. I would assume that companies will shy away from him for the short term anyways.

 

[Polaroid]

Sounds like 2010 won't be as good of a year for him and being one of the better players in the league is probably finished? These guys must try all kinds of new things hoping not to get caught?

I'm sure they do try everything and I'm pretty sure that there's an underground system in place to get them the drugs and to avoid the test. I'm even more sure that the majority of NFL players are using HGH for, lest we all forget, there is no test system in place for.

And the worst thing here? Cushing is caught cheating - and really, is there anything worse than that in professional sports? - and gets a four game ban. Ben Roethlisberger is caught doing much at all aside from being a first class dick at worst and gets up to a six match ban. There is something wrong with that.

 

[Polaroid]

Interesting use of the "deny all knowledge and blame a tumor"card.

“The question of how it got into my body is still unclear,” he said. “It’s something that I’m very personally concerned about, just the fact that how it’s there and what’s going to determine it from happening again, and that’s something we’re going to have to medically investigate.”

He said that after failing the test, he was told HCG can get in your body from injecting it or because of tumors. He said this information led him to believe he had tumors. He did not say what kind of tumors.

Dr. Gary Wadler, who leads the committee that determines the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned-substances list, said there have been cases of malignant testicular tumors producing HCG. Still, those cases are “extremely rare.”

“If he had a tumor that produced HCG, he wouldn’t be playing football,” Wadler said of Cushing. “He would be under treatment for a malignant tumor.”

Wadler also noted if Cushing tested positive once because of such a tumor, HCG levels would be consistently elevated and he would continue to have positive tests.

“Malignant testicular tumors producing HCG are rather lethal,” Wadler said. “It is a fairly aggressive tumor and you’re not playing in the NFL with one.”