New England Patriots TE Ben Watson faces four-game ban for PEDs
New England Patriots tight end Ben Watson has revealed he has been suspended for four games for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drugs policy. In a statement posted on social media Sunday, Watson explained he knew the punishment was coming when he came out of retirement this offseason. Watson said his doctors prescribed him Bio Identical Testosterone Cypionate – a substance he knew to be banned in the NFL – in March after he’d made what he thought was a permanent decision to retire. Nine days after first taking it, Watson was tested by the league. That was about a month before he would change his mind and decide to keep playing. “I complied [with the test] out of habit, never thinking in that moment I’d want to come back,” he said in the statement. “Considering myself previously retired, I had forgotten all about my test in March until I got a letter on May 3 saying my results were positive. I was devastated and for obvious reasons didn’t want to proceed.” Watson said he told interested teams about the test, and the Patriots agreed to sign him earlier this month despite the pending suspension. “This…