Archer: Rolando McClain facing a 4-game fine

[Rev]

INDIANAPOLIS -- As he prepares to enter free agency, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain is facing a four-game fine for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, according to multiple sources.

The suspension could affect the type of contract McClain receives even if it will not keep him off the field to start the 2015 season. The sources said McClain is appealing the fine. According to the league's new substance abuse policy, a player is fined for a third failed test. Another failed test would be a four-game suspension.

The Cowboys have had discussions with McClain's agent, Pat Dye, on a new contract and are scheduled to meet this week at the NFL scouting combine. Dye declined comment on whether his client was fined.

The Cowboys acquired McClain in a trade from the Baltimore Ravens last July and saw him start 12 games and finished second on the team with 81 tackles.

He missed three games with injuries and did not play in a fourth but was active.

The Cowboys will give up their sixth rounder to the Ravens to complete the trade, but they will receive Baltimore's seventh rounder in return.

McClain was the eighth overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Oakland Raiders. In 41 games with the Raiders he made 246 tackles and had 6.5 sacks, but he walked away from the game after the 2013 season and retired again after he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason.

When the Cowboys lost Sean Lee last spring to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Cowboys were able to coax McClain out of retirement. Jason Garrett's background with Alabama coach Nick Saban helped in getting McClain to return.

McClain was the most impactful Cowboys defender for most of the season. He suffered concussions in the Cowboys' playoff games against the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.

Late in the 2014 season his Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home burned to the ground and this week it was determined by investigators to be the result of arson.

"We follow anything on our players if it is related to them, but I have no reason to believe anything was up there other than something happened to his house that wasn't an accident, according to authorities," executive vice president Stephen Jones said earlier in the week.

 

[boozeman]

Schefter: McClain Faces Suspension

Schefter: McClain Faces Suspension

Well then.

 

[boozeman]

Never heard of the "four-game fine"...usually don't hear about it until it costs them games.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Who else isn't surprised.

 

[Cotton]

Lovely.

 

[boozeman]

Lovely.

Actually, it really is not bad at all.

It makes it a bit of a wakeup call to the team to not offer him much of anything long term.

What would have been worse is him signing a new contract and getting dinged for actual games.

All this does is make him less attractive as a free agent and more likely to take a short deal with Dallas full of clauses based on his availability. He lost whatever leverage he had with Dallas or anyone else for that matter.

 

[Cotton]

Actually, it really is not bad at all.

It makes it a bit of a wakeup call to the team to not offer him much of anything long term.

What would have been worse is him signing a new contract and getting dinged for actual games.

All this does is make him less attractive as a free agent and more likely to take a short deal with Dallas full of clauses based on his availability. He lost whatever leverage he had with Dallas or anyone else for that matter.

Never heard a fine put in terms of games before.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

What would have been worse is him signing a new contract and getting dinged for actual games.

That may happen anyway.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

So did he just now violate the substance abuse policy? It's always hard during the offseason with these types of players because the teams are so limited in what they can and can't do with players this time of year.

 

[Deuce]

This explains why he set fire to his home. Gotta pay off the drug fines somehow.

 

[Carp]

Actually, it really is not bad at all.

It makes it a bit of a wakeup call to the team to not offer him much of anything long term.

What would have been worse is him signing a new contract and getting dinged for actual games.

All this does is make him less attractive as a free agent and more likely to take a short deal with Dallas full of clauses based on his availability. He lost whatever leverage he had with Dallas or anyone else for that matter.

That was my thought as well...definitely will lessen his value.

 

[ravidubey]

My feelings have come back to what I said when we signed him-- when I was thinking straight. Like Sean Lee, he's the Devil. Good enough to where he can set you up for a huge disappointment later.

Where was he in Lambeau? Hurt. Whose house burned to the ground with only him to benefit? Who can't stop testing positive for fill-in-the-blank, or keeps retiring? Him, him, and him.

Any one thing you can forgive or even dismiss, but this guy keeps finding ways to frick up.

 

[Cotton]

New substance-abuse policy could trigger investigation of McClain confidentiality breach

Posted by Mike Florio on February 22, 2015, 10:42 AM EST

The Scouting Combine often becomes an informational free-for-all, with plenty of nuggets and rumors (often incorrect) floating around — and with plenty of swarming reporters who are looking to secure raises and/or better jobs tempted to apply a fire-aim-ready approach, all in the hopes of “being first.”

In most cases, the only risk is being wrong. When it comes to certain topics, however, there’s a new concern, especially for those reporters employed directly by the NFL.

On Saturday, reports emerged that Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain is facing a four-game fine for his third violation of the substance-abuse policy. And there’s the problem. The confidentiality provision of the substance-abuse policy is supposed to prevent the public from knowing that a player is facing a fine for violation of the substance-abuse policy. Technically, nothing can be disclosed by the NFL until a suspension has been finalized and announced.

The fact that the latest positive puts McClain within one strike of a suspension could supply the motivation for the Cowboys or another team to leak the news that signing the soon-to-be free agent entails additional risk. Regardless, the information shouldn’t have been disclosed by whoever disclosed it.

And here’s where it gets interesting. The new substance-abuse policy permits the retention of an independent investigator where confidentiality has been breached, along with stiff penalties that may be imposed by the NFL or the NFLPA, from fines up to $500,000 to termination of employment.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting. One of the breaches came from an NFL employee, through the NFL-owned website and the NFL-owned network.

“NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that the Dallas Cowboys linebacker is facing a four-game fine for a third failed drug test, per sources informed of his situation,” the article at NFL.com currently states; “LB Rolando McClain faces four-game fine after failing third drug test, NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reports,” the scroll at the bottom of NFL Network currently declares.

The leak didn’t come from McClain’s camp. Sources close to the situation tell PFT that some members of the media got wind of the fine before McClain’s representatives even knew about it.

If the confidentiality provision of the substance-abuse policy is to have any validity or credibility, an investigation will occur. And that investigation necessarily will include an interview of any and all relevant NFL employees. While other reporters are beyond the scope of the NFL’s ability to compel them to disclose sources, NFL Media reporters work for the league. Which gives the league the right to press them for information in the same way any other employer would press an employee for information when conducting an internal investigation.

So what would the league do if Rapoport refuses to disclose his source(s) for the violation of McClain’s confidentiality? On one hand, it would be wrong for the NFL to expect a reporter to violate journalistic principles in the name of an internal investigation. On the other hand, journalistic principles become blurred (at best) when a reporter accepts employment with the entity the reporter will be covering.

 

[dallen]

This is why it is weird the NFL has their own "reporters". I mean, they pretty much own the ESPN, Fox and CBS reporters anyway, but to have reporters employed by the thing they are supposed to investigate is just bizarre

 

[Carp]

I was counting on him coming back...and still hope to have him back, but with the "arson" of his home and this I think we are real close to losing him for an extended period. LB is creeping it's way back up near the top of draft needs for me.

 

[Texas Ace]

As I said earlier, I like the player but was not all that thrilled about resigning him since I consider him to be unreliable, and we already have one unreliable MLB on the roster.

 

[Carp]

As I said earlier, I like the player but was not all that thrilled about resigning him since I consider him to be unreliable, and we already have one unreliable MLB on the roster.

Sometimes you have to take a chance on a player...I want to take a chance with him. He brought a swagger and energy that we have lacked. Lee, as good as he is when he is healthy, never brought that kind of energy to the team.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Funny thing with that "breach"... I thought Schefter and Archer were the first to report it. At least that's the first I saw it on the webs. And they aren't NFL.

 

[Texas Ace]

Sometimes you have to take a chance on a player...I want to take a chance with him. He brought a swagger and energy that we have lacked. Lee, as good as he is when he is healthy, never brought that kind of energy to the team.

He did bring an attitude and that toughness we needed, but I don't think we need to keep him in order to maintain that new mentality.

He was rarely available down the stretch and his impact was minimal, but the team kept that same toughness and physicality and I think it's here to stay.

Would it be nice to bring him back? Sure, but it won't bother me one bit if we don't.

 

[Cotton]

Yeah, count me in the crowd that would absolutely take a chance on him. I think he was key to our defense overachieving this last year. I want him back.