Some players just don’t learn after getting caught and suspended for PED use once. Either that or Baltimore Ravens tight end Nick Boyle doesn’t believe he would be in the NFL without them. For the second time, the second-year tight end has been suspended 10 games without pay for violating the NFL Policy and Program for performance-enhancing substances.
And this comes after missing the last four games of his rookie season a for PED-related punishment. The 2015 5th-round pick is on the team for his value as a blocker, having only 18 catches this past year. Head coach John Harbaugh became a big-time believer in the Delaware product.
He told Baltimore Ravens.com, “I can tell you this: it wasn’t like steroids or anything like that. When I first heard about it, that was my first thought, ‘Man, I hope it’s not something like that.’ It’s nothing like that. He can confirm what it was. It’s pretty common.
“It’s what you read about all the time with guys. I don’t think he realized that it was something he shouldn’t be doing. Or if he did, he didn’t think it through. The shame of it is here’s a guy that’s playing so well. He’s one of the gems of the draft class in terms of a fifth-round pick playing the way he does.
“He plays hard. He has been good in the pass game, good in the run game. He’s smart, tough. He has a tremendous future. I told him that today. He was telling me how stupid it was, and I agreed. “It was pretty dumb. Hopefully, he’ll grow and learn from that.”
All that sounds good from Harbaugh but Crockett Gillmore is emerging, and 2nd-round pick Maxx Williams now has a 10-game head start. Then you have Dennis Pitta, who’s trying to make a comeback, and he has a 10-game head start too so Boyle is no lock to be with the Ravens going foward.