(TEMPE, Ariz.) — Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will be absent from the first six games of the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, the league announced on Monday.
Hopkins, 29, was suspended by the league after testing positive for a banned substance late last year.
“DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals has been suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2022 regular season for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances,” an NFL spokesperson said in an official statement. “Hopkins is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games. He will be allowed to return to the Cardinals’ active roster following the team’s sixth regular-season game.”
Doug Sanders, Hopkins’ brand manager, told ESPN in a text message that “trace elements of a banned substance” appeared in a test Hopkins took last November. However, tests taken in October and December were negative.
On Twitter, Hopkins posted a statement saying that he was “confused and shocked.”
“In my 10-year NFL career, I have never tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs,” Hopkins tweeted Monday night. “To learn that my November test came back with trace elements of a banned substance, I was confused and shocked.”
“I am very mindful of what I put it in my body and have always taken a holistic approach, so I am working with my team to investigate how this could’ve happened. But even as careful as I have been, clearly I wasn’t careful enough,” he wrote. “For that, I apologize to Cardinals fans, my teammates, and the entire Cardinals organization. I never want to let my team down.”
“I fully intend to get to the bottom of this. As soon as I have more information I will share it,” Hopkins concluded.
See you Week 7. pic.twitter.com/rHTofEx7jK
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) May 3, 2022
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.