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I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess most people aren’t intimately familiar with Steven Jackson, who managed to make it to the Pro Bowl three times over the course of his career but who is far from a household name.
Jackson was drafted by the Rams in 2004 and would spend nine seasons with the team before a couple of brief stints with the Falcons and the Patriots but he hasn’t stepped foot on an NFL field since 2015, and this week, he decided to officially hang up his cleats when he signed a ceremonial one-day contract with Los Angeles.
He might have been done with the NFL but it appears the NFL wasn’t done with him, as shortly after he made his retirement official, he jumped on Twitter to reveal the league had attempted to make him take a drug test after inking the symbolic deal—an invitation he politely declined.
Dear NFL can you tell Mr. Lombardo that I signed a one day contract. I will not be reporting today for my random drug test screening. Thanks in advance #retirement life 😎
— Steven Jackson (@sj39) August 1, 2019
While NFL drug tests are supposed to be random, anecdotal evidence suggests that might not be the case, as there have been multiple examples of the league suspiciously making players take one.
Of course, the fact that Jackson was selected in the first place would seem to confirm the randomness is indeed random but you’d think someone with some common sense would have decided to make an exception in this case.
Of course, this is the NFL we’re talking about so common sense doesn’t always come into play.