Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has been suspended for the first four games of the 2018 season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, the league announced Friday afternoon.
Sanchez, 31, played for the Bears last season as their third-string quarterback, but did not throw a pass in a regular-season game. He is currently a free agent.
Sanchez put a statement on Instagram acknowledging the suspension and placing the blame on “unknowing supplement contamination.”
“The NFL has informed me that I have tested positive for a substance on the banned substance list,” Sanchez wrote. “I was blindsided by the news and I want to say unequivocally that I have never cheated or attempted to gain a competitive advantage by using a banned performance-enhancing substance.