Report: David Irving suspended four games for violating policy on substance of abuses

For the fifth year in a row, the Dallas Cowboys will begin the season with a defensive starter suspended. While it seemed like he was looking to get things back on track very recently, David Irving has been suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Irving is actually the defensive starter who was suspended to begin last season as well. A year ago he tested positive for something that came from a company that he had a marketing deal with, it was a performance-enhancing drug.

This offseason the Cowboys placed a second-round tender on Irving when he became a restricted free agent. Irving ultimately signed the deal and is looking to get a bigger payday after the 2018 season, but he’ll only have 75% of the regular season to work with due to this suspension.

The first four games of the season are hardly easy ones for the Cowboys:

• At Carolina Panthers
• New York Giants
• At Seattle Seahawks
• Detroit Lions

While the suspensions have been for differing reasons, it’s not a good look that the Cowboys have now gone half a decade with a defensive starter suspended to begin the season. It hardly represents the “right kind of guy” mantra that Jason Garrett preaches, but here we are.

We’ll continue to update this story as more information is available.