Aug 31st 2008 1:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, AFC East, NFL RumorsWeird, weird day for Jesse Chatman. First, it was reported that he was cut by the Jets. Then his agent told Mike Florio that he was, in fact, going to remain on the team. So everything’s cool, right? Not so fast, my friend.

Chatman was suspended by the NFL on Saturday as well, so he’ll be out the first four games of 2008 now. Ouch, babe.
“It’s always disappointing, but it’s a program that the league has set up and something that I understand and Jesse understands the consequences of,” coach Eric Mangini said. “Jesse has had a very good training camp and really punctuated it with his game against the Eagles. He’s disappointed and so am I, but I look forward to him being able to come back and contribute.”

Chatman’s agent, Brett Tessler, said in a statement that the running back “never tested positive for a steroid or any other performance-enhancing drug.”

“Near the end of last season, the league claimed he had a diuretic in his system that they said could also be used as a masking agent,” Tessler said. “After Jesse spent great time and money defending his innocence, the league made its final ruling and now he has no choice but to look ahead to Week 5.”
That sounds all good and well, but, he’s still getting suspended. It’s one of the downsides to many testing policies that surround professional athletics, and sounds relatively similar to the way in which Jordan Schafer’s suspension went down with the Atlanta Braves.

There’s only so much an athlete can do with a positive drug test, and a lot of times that involves simply taking one on the chin, rolling with the punches and not making too much of a public stink about getting suspended so the league won’t harass you on the way back in.