The first NFL Draft shocker comes three days before the first pick is made.
Michigan star Jabrill Peppers tested positive for a diluted urine sample during the NFL combine, the league alerted teams Monday, ESPN reported.
A diluted sample is treated like a positive test under the NFL’s drug policy. The finding could bump Peppers, who could play as a safety or linebacker, out of the first round of the draft.
The New Jersey native offered an explanation to try to defend himself.
“Peppers went to the combine. He was sick after flying there from San Diego,” a spokesman for CAA, Peppers’ agency, told ESPN. “He has a history of cramping. Peppers was being pumped with fluids, drinking 8-10 bottles of water before he went to bed, because he was the first guy to work out two days for the LBs and DBs.
“He had to go through that first day, come back on second day, and that was the fear. So Peppers was pounding water and under the weather. He never failed a drug test in his life, nor tested positive before for any substance.”
Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster, another potential first-round pick, also tested positive for a diluted urine sample at the combine, which he attributed to his rehydration efforts after a bout with food poisoning.