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One of the longest standing rumors in football circles was finally confirmed on Friday evening. Adam Schefter reported that Houston Texans linebacker and reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Cushing has been suspended the first four games of the season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Making matters worse for Cushing is his appeal was already denied by the NFL. As Pro Football Talk points out, Cushing joins Shawne Merriman and Julius Peppers as the third Defensive Rookie of the Year to be busted for steroids in the last eight years.

As far back as high school, Cushing was rumored to be a steroids user. Cushing went on to star at USC despite being limited by shoulder and ankle injuries at various points in his career. Then around draft time in 2009, a report said both Cushing and fellow USC linebacker Clay Matthews tested positive for steroids at the combine. That report turned out to be false. Now, we have confirmation that Cushing has used steroids. Whether he’s been escaping positive tests for years and just now was finally caught or if he just began using we don’t know. We do know that one of the longest standing rumors in football circles has finally been confirmed: Brian Cushing is a steroids user. Maybe some of the teams that passed him up in the draft are saying “told you so.”