“Punt at your own risk”: New Orleans Saints punter Blake Gillikin gets a random drug test following his 81-yard punt


“Punt at your own risk”: New Orleans Saints punter Blake Gillikin gets a random drug test following his 81-yard punt

Blake Gillikin

The NFL is pretty strict on its drug-testing policy, we have seen players be suspended for a couple of games to an entire season over using performance-enhancing drugs or PEDs. Last season, Arizona Cardinals wideout DeAndre Hopkins faced the brunt of the league’s policy after testing positive for a banned substance which he claimed he had not taken and had no idea how it was present in his body. Though in certain situations it is understandable that the NFL drug-tests the top players who are having an amazing season, at times, the league takes it too far.

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The NFL has been known to randomly drug-test players who have recorded just one great play in a game, these players may not be stars and may have never made such a play before which leads the league to suspect that they are using substances to boost their performance, guess the league does not believe that practicing in the offseason could have some role to play in that respect.

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This is not the first time the NFL has randomly drug-tested players after they made a stellar play:

Blake Gillikin
Blake Gillikin

New Orleans Saints punter Blake Gillikin is the latest victim of the random drug testing conducted by the league. He had an amazing play against the Green Bay Packers where he launched an 81-yard punt that not only was his personal best but also the highlight of the night. Turns out, the fans were not the only ones watching this play with their eyes wide open and jaws dropped.

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The league immediately sent out a request for a drug test the next day, the punter shared the message via his Twitter account. Gillikin had a previous best punt of 63 yards prior to this play which is probably why the league suspected him of some foul play. The punter could not believe this and laughed it off. Ironically, rookie Matt Araiza who plays for the Buffalo Bills launched an 82-yard punt and was not drug tested for that, maybe that is why he is called the ‘Punt God’.

The NFL has conducted drug tests over the most trivial of situations. Cleveland Browns defensive player Myles Garrett was drug tested by the league after he posted a shirtless picture where he looked like a bodybuilder. The league definitely is more concerned about players being on PEDs than other issues of misconduct. Anyways, guess now we know why some players prefer to remain mediocre all their careers, better to avoid making amazing plays than to be drug tested at random times.

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