FRISCO, TEXAS
Dallas defensive end David Irving has been suspended the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy against performance enhancing drugs.
The ban announced Wednesday leaves the Cowboys without two potential starting pass rushers because of suspensions. Randy Gregory, a second-round pick who slid in the 2015 draft because of concerns over marijuana use, is likely to miss the entire season for multiple violations of the substance-abuse policy.
Irving, one of the team’s best pass rushers at the end of last season, can return Oct. 8 against Green Bay at home. The third-year player is eligible for training camp and preseason practices and games.
It’s the third straight year that Dallas will begin the season with at least two defensive players suspended, and the Cowboys could have a third. Cornerback Nolan Carroll, a free agent pickup from Philadelphia, faces a two-game ban over his arrest on a drunken-driving charge in Dallas.
Packers
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A visible piece of the Green Bay Packers’ Titletown District has emerged on the 34- acre development near Lambeau Field.
Construction crews this week finished pouring the concrete for the sledding hill that rises 60 feet above the ground at its highest point. When the snow flies the Packers will provide the inner tubes for the ride down. Under the hill is an ice skating trail connected to a larger ice rink.
WLUK-TV says other recreational components include a football field and a playground.
Part of the Titletown District will open in September. The sledding hill and ice rink will open in late November.
Lions
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton has been suspended for the first six games of the 2017 season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
Thornton can return to the active roster on Oct. 16, at the start of a bye week, and will be eligible to play Oct. 29 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is permitted to practice with the Lions during training camp and is eligible to play in preseason games.
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound Thornton has played in 19 games the previous two seasons with the Lions, starting six games last season. He seemed to be headed for a backup role this season behind defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and A’Shawn Robinson.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
