The NFL has suspended Patriots safety Rodney Harrison for four games after he admitted to the commissioner that he used a banned substance. Harrison said in a conference call last night that the performance-enhancing drugs were not steroids and that he took them to "accelerate the healing process." ESPN identified the substance as human growth hormone.
Harrison, 34, has played just 13 games over the last two seasons because of injuries. His name surfaced in the course of a federal and state investigation into an online drug merchant that sells steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Dallas QB coach Wade Wilson and another unidentified NFL assistant coach are entangled in the same investigation. (More Rodney Harrison stories.)