CLEVELAND — Browns wide receiver Antonio Callaway has stepped out of bounds again.
The NFL suspended Callaway four games without pay on Friday for an unspecified violation of the league’s policy and program on substance abuse. Callaway will sit out the first four regular-season games.
The 22-year-old can practice and play in preseason games before his suspension begins. He will be eligible to return to the Browns’ active roster on Sept. 30, the day after the team plays in Baltimore.
Callaway started Thursday night’s exhibition opener against Washington because Browns Coach Freddie Kitchens rested star receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. He finished with three receptions for 42 yards.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Callaway said in a news release sent by the Browns. “I made a mistake and I own that. I have taken steps to make myself better and I appreciate the Browns standing by me and supporting me during this time. I know there’s nothing I can say to regain trust; it will all be about my actions.”
Browns General Manager John Dorsey said the team was disappointed by Callaway’s actions.
“Freddie and I have had a direct conversation with him about where we stand,” Dorsey said. “He understands our expectations of him. We will continue to support him as long as he remains committed to taking advantage of the resources made available to him by our club and the league to help him become the best version of himself as a person first and foremost.”
The Browns drafted Callaway in the fourth round in 2018 despite his troubled stay at Florida, where he had a series of off-field issues ranging from a suspension for using stolen credit cards to a sexual assault allegation for which he was cleared.
Before being drafted, he had a diluted urine sample at the NFL combine, and then Callaway got off to a rough start with the Browns last year when he was cited for marijuana possession following a traffic stop in August.
The speedy Callaway played in all 16 games as a rookie, starting 11. He finished with 43 catches for 586 yards and five touchdowns. He also returned five punts.
The Browns believed Callaway had turned the corner and matured before the suspension, which will test the club’s depth.
COLTS: The Indianapolis Colts are taking no chances with Andrew Luck – or Adam Vinatieri.
Coach Frank Reich said he expects the starting quarterback to miss at least three more practices with a strained left calf, likely keeping him off the field until Wednesday, when the Cleveland Browns come to town for a joint practice.
The injury kept Luck out of the Colts’ offseason workouts and he was sidelined again after practicing three times over the first four days of training camp, though he never took a snap in full team drills.
Luck led the Colts to the playoffs for the first time in four years last season and won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award after returning from shoulder surgery that caused him to miss the 2017 season.
The Colts also acknowledged Vinatieri was held out of Thursday’s game because of a knee injury.
EAGLES: The Eagles could have backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld available again in about six weeks after successful surgery.
The optimistic prognosis presumably means Sudfeld’s break did not result in a dislocation.
Sudfeld left Thursday night’s Eagles preseason-opening loss to the Tennessee Titans just before halftime after falling backward from a late hit and bracing himself with his left wrist, which crumpled. Sudfeld left the field in an air cast, and, after the game, Eagles Coach Doug Pederson confirmed a break.
There is considerable focus on Sudfeld as the primary backup to Carson Wentz, with Nick Foles now in Jacksonville
GIANTS: An outstanding debut by heir apparent Daniel Jones doesn’t make for a quarterback competition for the New York Giants, at least for now.
Coach Pat Shurmur said Jones’ perfect passing performance and touchdown throw on his only series in the 31-22 preseason victory over the rival Jets has not caused him to change his belief that 38-year-old Eli Manning is the Giants’ starting quarterback heading into the season.
Jones, the sixth pick overall in the draft, clearly had the better game, hitting all five of his passes for 67 yards. He capped his weather-shortened evening with a 12-yard pass to Bennie Fowler III in the right corner of the end zone.
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