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In this NFL dead period, the saying that "no news is good news" usually applies. Today is one of those days where no news would have been good news.
Instead, the news broke that Colts wide receiver LaVon Brazill has been suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season without pay for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. Brazill can still participate in the team's offseason activities and training camp but will just be forced to miss the first four weeks of the regular season. He can return for the fifth game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Last season as a rookie, the sixth round draft pick caught 11 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown in limited action. Despite the limited playing time the team and fans saw potential in Brazill and were hoping that he could make a bigger impact in 2013. While that is still the hope, Brazill's chances of even making the 53-man roster took a significant hit with the suspension.
Does this mean that Brazill is just automatically going to be cut? No, it doesn't. But for a guy whose spot wasn't secured anyways at a spot where there figures to be quite a bit of competition to make the roster, this isn't good. In our postion previews series we will look at the wide receivers tomorrow and will discuss this much more in depth.
The bottom line is that there are other guys fighting to get a roster spot and Brazill used to hold an edge on all of them. I don't think he does anymore. This is good news for guys like Griff Whalen and Nathan Palmer, who have had very impressive offseasons. For the Colts, they will need to figure out whether keeping a guy around who will only be able to contribute in at most 12 games is a better option than keeping other guys who are fighting for a chance to show what they can do.
Those are questions that can only be answered by the team and after seeing the receivers in camp, but LaVon Brazill's chances took a significant hit today.
This was just a very dumb decision by Brazill. No way around it, and it opens up the wide receiver spot to even more intense competition once training camp rolls around.