Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jerome Simpson will be suspended without pay the first three weeks of the upcoming regular season, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Vikings WR Jerome Simpson is being suspended 3 games, per a league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2014
Can confirm WR Jerome Simpson's three game suspension has been upheld, per source #Vikings
— Master (@MasterTes) August 29, 2014
Simpson visited the league offices in New York earlier this month to appeal the suspension, which is a result of his drunken-driving arrest last November – a violation of the NFL’s Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.
“We made our case and believe Jerome should not be suspended under the totality of the evidence,” Simpson’s attorney David Valentini said following the trip to New York, as reported by the Pioneer Press. “Our argument was that if he had taken the test he would have passed it.”
Simpson pleaded guilty in January to careless driving and failure to submit a chemical test. For the plea deal, prosecutors dropped a DUI charge and sentenced Simpson to two years probation.
This is the second suspension in Simpson’s three-year stint with the Vikings. He missed the first three games of the 2012 season after the NFL suspended him of a felony for mailing two pounds of marijuana to his home. He was playing for the Cincinnati Bengals at the time.
Simpson isn’t the only Viking that will miss the first three weeks. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer also will serve a three-game suspension for his role in the Chris Kluwe saga.
The Vikings have to trim the roster from 75 to 53 players by 3 p.m. Saturday. Simpson’s suspension could help players like Adam Thielen and Rodney Smith make the team.
Jerome Simpson suspended three games. Both Adam Thielen and Rodney Smith privately smiling. May clinch them both spots.
— Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) August 29, 2014
