Pat Shurmur said it's business as usual as he installs his Giants offense this summer, preparing as if receiver Golden Tate will be in the Opening Day lineup.
But the reality is, he almost certainly won't be.
The 30-year-old Tate may be appealing the four-game suspension he got for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs, but "there's almost no way" his appeal will be successful, according to an NFL source. Multiple other sources agreed, saying the NFL's policy is "unforgiving" and "rigid."
The story went on to say the best Tate could hope for, the sources agreed, is that the suspension gets reduced from four games to three or, even less likely, two. But not everyone agreed that a reduction was even a possibility. When his impending suspension was revealed last week, Tate released a statement saying he was prescribed a drug by a fertility planning specialist, "and just days later I discovered it contained an ingredient that is on the league's banned substance list."
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