The New York Giants received even more bad news on Saturday as Golden Tate was handed a four-game suspension, which he plans to appeal.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, New York Giants wide receiver Golden Tate, who was suspended for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Substances, plans to appeal the suspension.
Tate, 30, released a statement via Twitter to explain his side of the story. He attributes the failed test to a treatment he received for fertility planning.
My statement. pic.twitter.com/WzP7W4bclB
— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) July 27, 2019
Although Tate believes he has a legitimate case to appeal this suspension, this suspension could not come at a worse time.
The Giants are hemorrhaging skill position players and Tate is just the latest case. Corey Coleman and Sterling Shepard went down on the first day of training camp. Coleman suffered a torn ACL and will miss the season while Shepard is dealing with a fractured thumb and is week-to-week.
Not to mention, the Giants traded away Odell Beckham Jr. in the offseason. The Tate signing was supposed to mitigate the loss of Beckham.
Veteran quarterback Eli Manning is losing reliable options left and right. Thankfully, he’ll have Saquon Barkley to carry the load, literally and figuratively.
The Giants will play the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Washington Redskins in the first four weeks of the season. If Tate is unsuccessful in his appeal, he’ll miss two crucial divisional games.
This wasn’t the ideal start to training camp for the Giants. But there is still a long way to go before Week 1.
