Eric Herman, a young guard trying to stick on the Giants roster, has been suspended for the first four games of the 2014 regular season for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances, the league announced Friday.
Herman will be allowed to practice with the team this summer and play in the remaining four preseason games, but he must part ways with the team for the first month of the season. Herman will be eligible to return to the active roster on Friday, Sept. 26, following the Giants’ game the previous day against the Redskins.
Herman was in the news recently as the player whom David Wilson accidentally ran into last week during practice, causing a neck burner that led to Wilson being forced to retire from football.
According to Herman — a 2013 seventh-round pick from Ohio University who spent last season on the practice squad — he received a Therapeutic Use Exemption to take a certain medication, but there was another stimulant that treats the same condition found in his body that is not allowed under the NFL’s drug policy.
“Unfortunately, a stimulant for which I don’t have a TUE was in my body, and the rules are very strict, so I am taking responsibility and I sincerely apologize to my teammates, coaches and the club,’’ Herman said. “This won’t happen again, and I will spend the four weeks working hard to be ready to return to work.”
Herman is not the only Giants player this year to fail to meet the league’s drug policy standards. Cornerback Jayron Hosley is suspended for the first four games for violating the NFL’s illegal-drug policy, and former Giants safety Will Hill — now with the Ravens after the Giants subsequently cut him — must sit out the first six games of this season for his third infraction of the drug policy.
CB Zack Bowman used to be part of the turnover-crazed Bears defense, and he has brought that mentality to the Giants. He had an interception in the preseason opener and two more during Thursday’s practice.
“They used to knock the playbook out of each other’s hands going to meetings, he was telling us,’’ cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta said. “That’s something they used to do. That philosophy, that mindset, he’s helped bring that.’’
It took until the third series of the game for the new-look starting offensive line to get in gear during the opener against the Bills, and the touchdown drive came against the second-team Buffalo defense.
“We got off to a little slow start the other night, but our intensity is there and our work ethic is there and our pride about rebuilding the Giants identity of running the football,’’ LG Geoff Schwartz said. “We had that really long drive, it didn’t matter who we were playing — yeah, some of the backups might have been in — but it’s what we’re supposed to do. No matter how you look at it, it’s still positive.’’