Cowboys DE Robert Quinn suspended first two games for violating NFL’s substance abuse policy

Robert Quinn fractured his hand earlier this week out at Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, but it was quickly announced that the team didn’t expect him to miss any time due to the injury.

Unfortunately, Quinn will in fact miss time, but for something completely unrelated to his hand. It was announced on Thursday that Robert Quinn is suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

It’s not ideal for the Cowboys to ever be operating without any of their players, and Quinn isn’t even the first defensive end on their roster to be suspended given everything that’s happened with Randy Gregory. It does help that the first two opponents for Dallas this season are the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, but this is not good.

Quinn’s agent released a statement shortly after the news broke in defense of his client. Sean Kiernan alleges that the substance Quinn tested positive for has to do with something he takes due to suffering from seizures and likens the amount that the NFL found to one kernel of rice within a gigantic bag, but a positive test is a positive test, unfortunately.

Considering Quinn was slated to start, it’s worth pointing out just how often the Cowboys have had a defensive starter miss time for suspension to begin the season. We’re now at six years in a row:

• 2014: Orlando Scandrick
• 2015: Greg Hardy, Rolando McClain
• 2016: DeMarcus Lawrence
• 2017: David Irving
• 2018: David Irving
• 2019: Robert Quinn

The Cowboys are going to need everything they can get from their young defensive ends early on. That group looked to be bolstered by the acquisition of Quinn over the offseason, but now they’ll only get him for 14 games at maximum.