He started 12 regular-season games and finished second on the team in tackles with 81.
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IRVING, Texas (AP) – Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain has been suspended for the first four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, putting two key Dallas defenders on the sideline to start the season with pass rusher Greg Hardy’s 10-game ban. The league also suspended Green Bay Packers defensive end Datone Jones one game.
Hardy has appealed his suspension for the defensive end’s role in a domestic violence case. Now as a result of his suspension, McClain will miss games against the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, but he is allowed to participate during training camp and the preseason. McClain’s suspension means the Cowboys won’t have their second-leading tackler from 2014 for the first four games of 2015. The Cowboys have known since at least February that McClain might be suspended. He signed a one-year deal to remain in Dallas but was already facing a four-game fine for his third failed drug test. But McClain is back in the dog house with this latest infraction.
Since 2010, McClain has retired twice and been arrested three times. The team released him in April 2013 and McClain signed with the Baltimore Ravens, but he announced his retirement a month later without playing a down for the Ravens.
During the offseason, McClain had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. The Cowboys signed veteran linebacker Jasper Brinkley in March and there’s a good chance that Brinkley will be the guy who fills-in for McClain.
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Rolando McClain of the Dallas Cowboys has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season for violating the National Football League Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.
