NASHVILLE - Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, said the NFL has suspended him for the first four games of the season for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Lewan announced his suspension Wednesday in an emotional video he posted to social media, saying he received the letter from the NFL a few weeks ago that he had tested positive for ostarine. He said he wanted to share the news himself and did so a day before the Titans reported for training camp.
"I've never taken anything that would cheat the game. I'm so sorry to the Tennessee Titans," Lewan said in the video before pausing, taking a deep breath and wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry to the Titans, to the fans, that I won't be there for four games. I've never cheated myself, and I never want you guys to feel cheated. And I'm sorry. But I'm going to be better for this. I'm going to come back."
The Titans had no immediate comment.
Tennessee Titans offensive tackle Taylor Lewan leaves the field after the team's 33-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts last December in Nashville.The 6-foot-7, 309-pound lineman, who turned 28 on Monday, said he took a polygraph voluntarily and shared the results to his Instagram account showing he passed when saying no to whether he ever knowingly took ostarine or used any illegal drug to boost his performance. He said he also had his supplements tested by a third party but knows he's responsible for what goes into his body.
The Titans picked Lewan, a two-time All-American at Michigan, No. 11 overall in the 2014 draft and made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL with a new contract at the start of training camp a year ago. The team signed free-agent guard Rodger Saffold in March to bolster the left side of the offensive line in hopes of better protecting quarterback Marcus Mariota, who's in the final season of his rookie contract.
Options at tackle in Lewan's absence will include right tackle Jack Conklin, Dennis Kelly and Kevin Pamphile, who spent much of the offseason practicing at right guard.
The Titans open the season Sept. 8 at Cleveland. If Lewan's suspension is upheld, he also would miss back-to-back AFC South games against Indianapolis (Sept. 15) and at Jacksonville (Sept. 19) and a conference crossover hosted by the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 29 in the teams' first meeting since 2015. He could return Oct. 6 against Buffalo.
Lewan noted ostarine is the same substance that led to three Clemson University football players - star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and a pair of reserves, tight end Braden Galloway and offensive lineman Zach Giella - being issued a one-year suspension in December for failing an NCAA drug test. That punishment took effect just before the start of the College Football Playoff, leading to them missing the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Notre Dame and the national championship victory against Alabama.
Clemson cited health privacy laws in June for declining to reveal how the players came in contact with the substance.
Lawrence, who was a junior last season, was a first-round pick by the New York Giants in April. Giella, who would have been a senior, is no longer on the team because the suspension exhausted his eligibility. Galloway, a sophomore, remains on the Tigers' roster.