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NFL finalizes new drug policy, adds HGH testing

Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker is back on the football field.Ed Andrieski/AP file photo

NEW YORK — The NFL and the NFL Players Association announced changes to the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy Wednesday that will allow Denver Broncos receiver Wes Welker and two other previously suspended players to return to their teams this week.

The new policy also includes the addition of testing for human growth hormone.

Under the new rules, players who test positive for banned stimulants in the offseason will no longer be suspended. Instead, they will be referred to the substance abuse program.

Welker, Dallas Cowboys defensive back Orlando Scandrick, and St. Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey had been suspended for four games. All can return Sunday under the new rules.

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Players who test positive for banned stimulants during the season will continue to get four-game suspensions.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday that he doesn’t know how the new agreement will affect his two suspended players, Brandon Browner and Brian Tyms.

“You need to talk to the league about that,” said Belichick. “We don’t know anything. It’s a very confidential policy, and it’s really handled between the league and the players, and coaches are really out of it.”

Welker, who practiced with the Broncos Wednesday, sustained a concussion Aug. 23 in a preseason game against Houston. It was his third head injury in a 10-month span. But he has been cleared medically, so he was able to get right back on the field upon his reinstatement.

Before beginning his suspension, Welker, an 11-year NFL veteran and a former Patriot, vehemently disagreed with his punishment and said he’d fight to fix the league’s drug policy.

The league and union are also nearing an agreement on changes to the substance abuse policy. That could reduce Cleveland Browns receiver Josh Gordon’s season-long ban.

Testing for HGH was agreed upon in 2011 when a new collective bargaining agreement ended the lockout of the players. But the players had balked at the science in the testing and the appeals process for positive tests.

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Under the new deal, appeals of positive tests in the PED program will be heard by third-party arbitrators jointly selected and paid for by the NFL and union. Appeals will be processed more expeditiously under altered procedures.

The new rules also change the length of suspensions. Previously, all first-time violations of the performance-enhancing drug policy resulted in at least a four-game suspension.

Now, use of a diuretic or masking agent will result in a two-game suspension. The punishment for steroids, in-season use of stimulants, HGH, or other banned substances is four games. Evidence of an attempt to manipulate a test is a six-game suspension.

A second violation will result in a 10-game ban, up from a minimum of eight games. A third violation is at least a two-year suspension. Before, the ban was at least a year.