As a consequence for a second suspension off their roster, the New York Jets faces a fine from the National Football League under a newly adopted policy.

Jets rookie quarterback Erik Ainge tested positive for a banned diuretic and was slapped with a four-game suspension for violating NFL’s steroids and related substances policy.

Ainge’s teammate Jesse Chatman was the first to commit doping infraction when he tested positive for bumetanide. He was penalized with a four-game suspension without pay a week prior the start of the season.

From Pro Football Talk:

Under a new (and still somewhat confusing) league policy aimed at giving teams an incentive to encourage good behavior from their players, the New York Jets face a fine as a result of the four-game suspension imposed on quarterback Erik Ainge.

The new policy, which came to light in the wake of the Pacman Jones suspension, applies when a franchise has a second player suspended for off-field conduct in a given league year.  Because running back Jesse Chatman was suspended at the start of the season for violating the policy regarding anabolic steroids and related substances, Ainge’s suspension triggers the fine.

The Jets, per the formula announced in the wake of the Pacman suspension, will be required to pay one-fourth of the base salary that Ainge will lose as a result of his suspension.  Since he’s earning the rookie minimum, the amount of the fine is low; one fourth of his four-game fine equates to a single game check.

Based on a base salary of $295,000, the fine will be $17,352.94.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones has figured in several run-ins with authorities with the recent one taking place last month at a Dallas hotel in what one news article has described as “an alcohol-related scuffle with a bodyguard”. Pacman was suspended for four games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

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Another New York Jets player is suspended for violating NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Erik Ainge, Jets rookie quarterback, is suspended for four games for testing positive for an unnamed prohibited compound. He will serve the suspension without pay.

“We respect the league’s decision and look forward to Erik’s return,” a Jets spokesman said.

Ainge is eligible to return to the team’s roster Dec. 15. His four-game absence, however, is not expected to cause that much impact on the team’s output since he’s on injured reserve Oct.29 for a foot injury.

The 22-year-old Ainge was drafted by the Jets in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Ainge comes from a family of athletes. His father, Doug Ainge, played basketball in college. Danny Ainge, former NBA and MLB, player is his uncle. His grandfather, Don Ainge, was drafted by the MLB’s Boston Red Sox, but did not take the offer.

Ainge’s teammate Jesse Chatman was suspended a week before the start of the season. He has rejoined the team Oct. 6.

The Jets’ running back was among several players who reportedly tested positive for the banned diuretic bumetanide, considered a masking agent for anabolic steroids.

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Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings met with NFL officials on Monday to appeal their suspension stemming from their positive tests for the diuretic bumetanide.

The two are among the six to eight players who reportedly tested for bumetanide, a loop diuretic used as a masking agent for anabolic steroids.

The duo was suspended for four games without pay for violating the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Other players involved in the bumetanide controversy are New Orleans Saints’ running back Deuce McAllister and defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith. The Saints players are expected to meet with NFL officials Tuesday.

All the players implicated blamed a tainted supplement for the failed tests. Apparently, all of them took the StarCaps weight-loss system. The manufactures of the over-the-counter supplement has decided to cease shipments of their product as a result of the controversy.

StarCaps advertised their product as “all natural supplement” which has “been prepared in Peru, using an exclusive drying process to help preserve the enzyme, activity of papaya, grown in the Peruvian Amazon, and the dietary integrity of fresh garlic, grown in the rich and fertile mountains of Arequipa, Peru.”

The NFL policy states: “The use of so-called ‘blocking’ or ‘masking’ agents is prohibited by this policy. These include diuretics or water pills, which have been used in the past by some players to reach an assigned weight. Players are responsible for what is in their bodies.”

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As the National Football League is presently embroiled in a doping controversy, its Canadian counterpart, the CFL, is still without a doping policy to test players for anabolic steroids and related subtances.

From the Toronto Star:

As the Grey Cup approaches, the CFL remains the only major pro sports league in North America that doesn’t test players for drugs.

Both the league and the players’ union say the situation will change, with each side recognizing drug testing will help the league’s image, the players’ health and the overall sense of fair play.

But no one can say for sure how soon anything will happen.

The reason behind the lack of league-wide drug testing program is not procrastination on the part of both the league and the union; money is the main obstacle.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport oversees drug testing in Canadian amateur sports, including university football. Spokesperson Rosemary Pittfield says the cost of drug tests varies widely, and though she hesitates to pinpoint a cost, she offers a rough estimate of $500 per test. Add in the drug education and rehabilitation the CFL is seeking, and costs multiply quickly.

Money is not a problem in the NFL, where the league generated $7 billion (U.S.) in revenue last season, and where the union collects dues from a membership whose median salary nears $800,000.

Obviously, the CFL doesn’t have that type of cash flow.

CFL was officially founded in 1958 and is considered to be the most popular major league sports in Canada next to National Hockey League. Currently, the CFL has eight teams playing divided into two divisions, the East and the West. Each division has four teams each.

CFL’s active teams are Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Grey Cup refers to both the championship season of the CFL and the trophy awarded to the winning team.

In the 2007 Grey Cup, the Roughriders won over the Blue Bombers.

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