Man, I'm listening to David Moore detail the La'el Collins series of events to Robert Wilonsky on Intentional Grounding and I'm fucking amazed at how much of an absolute dumb fuck Collins is.
Negotiations between the league and Collins have been going on for at least 6 months now
As has been reported, Collins tried to bribe the sample taker. Collins reps say it was a joke. Claiming he never tested positive so why would he bribe the sample taker with any level of seriousness
Negotiations with the league eventually brought the suspension down from as many as 5 games, down to 3, and then ultimately settling all the way down to 2.
Collins, being the ignoramus that he is, took this bit of lagniappe as a sign and attempted to double down on it. With the logic being that the grace displayed by league negotiators betrayed an admission that their argument was flawed.
So it was actually Collins and his team who took the case to arbitration, believing that the suspension would evaporate into thin air leaving the public none the wiser.
Fast forward to arbitration (which was purposely delayed by Collins' team to ensure that he played in game 1 against Tampa) and the arbitrator is shocked that, given the evidence, the NFL knocked down his suspension to 2 games. Disgusted, he rescinded the negotiated terms of 2 games and reinvoked the 5 game suspension.
And to top it off, had Collins actually tested positive he wouldn't have even been suspended in the first place. The only penalty is a fine.
FUCKING DUMB ASS!!!