Eagles Notebook

Posted: July 21st, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 23 Comments »

Let’s start with the bad news. Eagles Safety Keelan Johnson was arrested over the weekend. File this under the category of “drunk people do dumb things”.

Court documents said Keelan Johnson was standing in front of Zuma Grill just after 2 a.m. after an acquaintance was involved in a bar fight. Johnson was allegedly shouting over officers, who were detaining the acquaintance.

Johnson was told to step back multiple times and was given a “directional contact” to the chest. Johnson then allegedly shoved an officer. A brief scuffle followed, in which Johnson refused to lower his arms for arrest.

Johnson waived his Miranda rights and informed police he shoved the officer because he felt the officer didn’t have a right to order him around and physically attempt to move him.

Johnson appeared to be intoxicated at the time. He was charged with assaulting a police officer, passively resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

If a cop tells you to do something…do it. Dumb move by a player who was fighting for a roster spot. The team may not cut him right now, but they won’t put up with much from the guys at the bottom of the roster.

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Many of you keep asking what is going on. I don’t know anything for sure, but my guess is that Johnson will be suspended. I don’t have an explanation for the delay, but it sure seems like Johnson and the Eagles would be objecting publicly if there was some hope with this situation.

* * * * *

DE/LB Phillip Hunt tore his ACL last summer.

Hunt is a good fit for the 4-3. Hopefully he catches on somewhere and then gets a chance to play some. Good luck to him.

* * * * *

Those plays will add up. They’ll be more chances for the players to work on the things they are trying to improve. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will get better, but you certainly hope the reps help.

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23 Comments on “Eagles Notebook”

  1. 1 makarov123 said at 11:37 PM on July 21st, 2014:

    About Lane Johnson, I think there is some kind of appeal process for positive drug tests, but I’m not sure.

    I do know there have been players in several sports, most notably baseball, that have successfully argued about flaws in collection, handling, and testing of blood samples.

    Another issue is we don’t know what he tested positive for, other than a PED, according to “reports”. That’s a pretty broad category that could include legitimately prescribed medication. You don’t hear about it much in the NFL, but Adderall and Ritalin are two meds somewhat frequently found in use by baseball players. These might be used illicitly by someone trying to improve mental focus. This is not fantasy, as I work in mental health and these drugs are often prescribed to offset lack of focus in individuals who are taking certain anti-psychotic drugs.

    Adderall was what Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz was caught using (without legitimate prescription, apparently) during his All-Star 2012 season (beating his career BA by 50 pts and career slugging by 130 pts). Ruiz has since received an exemption my MLB to use Adderall. It is also legitimately prescribed for ADD and ADHD.

    This is a long post, lol, so I’ll conclude by saying it could be something Johnson tested positive for, but might have legitimate medical need or prescription for. Time will tell, but the delay is very odd.

  2. 2 ICDogg said at 12:50 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    One of the odd things about drug testing is that a sample that is too diluted is considered a failed test. So, if you drank a gallon of water before your drug test, you’d probably fail the test for that reason alone.

    If that’s what happened here, there could be a drawn-out process determining why this was the case.

  3. 3 Age said at 4:15 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    There has been a lot of discussion about whether Adderall has been used by players as a masking agent for other PEDs, but since it’s not as powerful a diuretic as other drugs, it’s more likely that players are simply claiming “It was just Adderall” because it carries less of a stigma. Perhaps if the NFL could report which specific PED was being used, it would be different, but by rule, they can’t.

  4. 4 Jernst said at 1:12 PM on July 22nd, 2014:

    What happens is the NFL legally can’t release what specific drug the players popped positive for. It’d be a HIPAA (the law that protects the privacy of any of your personal medical information) violation. So the players have just started claiming to the media that the drug they were caught with was adderall, because it sounds better than horse steroids. Adderall itself is not in any way a masking agent and will not help you pass a drug test. It is just pure amphetamine salts, nothing more, nothing less. If you take adderall to mask whatever drug you were taking you will simply now test positive for that drug plus amphetamines. Lasix or other diuretics that increase the free water in your urine can act as a masking agent by diluting the sample. They are not routinely tested for and hence why an overly dilute urine sample is considered suspicious.

  5. 5 Cafone said at 1:57 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I’m not too worried about losing Johnson since he was originally a UDFA and probably a long shot to make the roster anyway.

    That said, with police situations it’s always best to wait until the whole story comes out since, in general, police officers say whatever is convenient and have no real concept of the difference between lying and telling the truth. The charges themselves seem conflicting. “Assault on an officer” and “passively resisting arrest”? Those two things don’t seem to go together. If he has a decent lawyer, I’d bet the serious charges get dropped and he does a few hours of community service for disorderly conduct.

  6. 6 D3FB said at 2:51 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Not to mention Arizona police aren’t exactly deep south cops, but there’s a whole hell of alot of areas where I’d rather be under police scrutiny.

  7. 7 Cafone said at 4:54 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Yeah, it’s definitely in the running for the most racist state in the Union.

  8. 8 bill said at 8:02 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    The terms “testi-lying” and “drops” come to mind when I think of police and the truth. Unfair, maybe, but like with lawyers, a large minority spoils the image of the whole, who seem to tolerate and protect the bad apples.

  9. 9 CrackSammich said at 8:58 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I look at criminal charges all the time for work. Pretrial, they list a bunch of possible charges for whatever happened, and then pick one once they plea/go to trial. It’s likely that both of those won’t remain once it comes time.

  10. 10 Jernst said at 1:18 PM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Right? I’ve had to deal with plenty of overly aggressive cops that were looking for confrontation and escalated things unnecessarily. Also…”directional contact to his chest” I almost spit out my coffee when I read that.

  11. 11 Maggie said at 6:37 PM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Yes. First responders have a fairly well-documented history of steroid use and once the ol’ balls start to shrink, the rage grows.
    Although, in all fairness, there may be other reasons for ‘roid rage. ;~D

  12. 12 Media Mike said at 5:28 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    THIS:

    “If a cop tells you to do something…do it. Dumb move by a player who was fighting for a roster spot. The team may not cut him right now, but they won’t put up with much from the guys at the bottom of the roster.”

    This also applies to what you’re told to do by security in a bar / club, and when entering / leaving the bar / club. These guys need to learn some basic obedience lessons. There aren’t a great number of people who create problems for themselves by refusing to listen to security when at a bar/club and the subsequently the police after they run afoul of security in the bar, but those people like Johnson are trash.

  13. 13 kevinlied said at 6:30 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Um, trash? That’s a little strong. Worst case scenario, the guy was drunk and got into a shoving match with a cop who laid hands on him first. Not smart at all, but let’s not making sweeping generalizations about his character. Plus, I’m sure this isn’t what you intended, but the whole “these guys,” being that Keelan is a big, black man, needing to be “obedient” to law enforcement conjures uncomfortable images of smokies turning fire hoses and sicking dogs on folks.

  14. 14 Media Mike said at 6:40 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I don’t much care what type of image you’d like to conjure up. As somebody who spent over a decade working in the security end of the bar / club business, I have little tolerance for trash (of any type you’d like to imagine) who cause problems though the refusal to act properly.

    This exact same premise applied to Jason Michaels when he did the same thing in Philly with the police.

  15. 15 kevinlied said at 6:54 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Well your involvement in the industry explains your overreaction and willingness to generalize about the guy based on one incident.

  16. 16 anon said at 7:42 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I know right, confirms how you think they think.

  17. 17 TommyLawlor said at 7:13 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Trash is a strong word based on a shoving incident.

    One of my best friends is a cop. He’s also the guy who confronted police twice when we were younger and had some incidents. Just because you don’t respond well to authority hardly makes you trash or a bad person. Dumb, yes…but even that can be a momentary thing due to too much alcohol. That was the case with my buddy.

  18. 18 eagleyankfan said at 7:16 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    After all that “how NOT walking grass means something” — KJ walked on the grass?

  19. 19 Andy124 said at 9:05 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    KJ pooped on the grass.

  20. 20 A_T_G said at 9:09 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    Actually, that lesson was the problem.

    He got to Arizona, looked around, and realized there was no grass. From there, it was just bedlam, free-for-all, and an arrest waiting to happen.

  21. 21 Brendan Ekstrom said at 11:59 AM on July 22nd, 2014:

    This may be a stupid thought. I don’t know much about the drugs that actually help create substantial and fast muscle gains but I wonder if some younger players think to themselves “fuck it I will miss four games because of taking this but in that time I will put on the muscle and mass needed to dominate when I get back.”

  22. 22 Jernst said at 1:23 PM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I think that combined with an overall low likelyhood of getting caught is precisely what they’re thinking

  23. 23 GEAGLE said at 8:01 PM on July 22nd, 2014:

    I dreamt last night that Lane was only suspended for 3 games…LOL subconsciously I must want him back for the Niners game!