The NFL’s current drug testing policy is not easy to escape, but the same wasn’t the case in the 1980s. It was a league-wide issue, with players in all positions using substances not just for recovery, but also to strengthen themselves on the field. Former Dallas Cowboys safety Crawford Ker, who played for three teams during his tenure in the NFL, recently shared his thoughts on this issue.

“I mean, I would say probably 70% of the white guys in the strength positions did it. And maybe, 20% of the black athletes did it,” said Crawford on Ross Tucker Podcast. And it is in my book too. When I went to junior college, I would do a cycle for four weeks or something like that and then get off. But it was part of the game when I got there.”

Crawford played in Dallas for five years after being drafted in 1985. Even though steroids were officially banned in the 1980s, the league’s monitoring system wasn’t as strict as it is today, which was why it went unnoticed for many. After the former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle added steroids to the NFL’s banned list in 1983, the league didn’t have a drug testing framework or penalties, so the teams and players didn’t take it seriously.

Six years after its introduction, the league strictly implemented the ban and penalty on August 29, 1989, when Rozelle finally dropped the hammer with the first batch of league suspensions due to the PED use. A total of 13 players from different teams were handed a 30-day suspension as part of the punishment.

The announcement of suspensions came four years after Ker came into the league, which is exactly when things started getting serious about the issue.

Tony Collins became the first player to be issued a ban as he violated the rules of the drug policy. He was out for a year, but returned to the NFL.

Substance abuse became the hidden weapon for several players. According to a study, about 15 percent of all former linemen for more than half a century, starting from the 1940s through the 1990s, admitted they used steroids. Another statistic that shows how serious the problem was in the 80s is the study from the University of North Carolina. After surveying 2,552 former NFL players, their study found that more than 20 percent of players who played in the 80s admitted to using steroids.

The use of substances not only helped boost numbers on the field but also helped with coping with the physical pain and quick recovery.

However, fast forward today, the NFL has a zero-tolerance drug policy for all the players across 32 teams.

The current NFL policy leaves no gray area for substance use

Today, the NFL’s drug testing policy is jointly supervised by the league and the NFLPA (NFL Players Association). It is independently managed by the Drug Free Sport, which leaves the team with no control over it, while the testing schedule of players comes with no immediate warning.

Under the PES [Performing Enhancing Substance] policy, every player must pass the annual PES test. Moreover, during the NFL season, whether the regular or playoff games, the players are tested randomly every single week. Usually, a computerized system picks 10 random players from each team for immediate testing, making the process fair and square.

Despite the strict approach against the drug, some modern-day players have been caught violating it. For instance, the Buccaneers running back Josh Williams was suspended for six games, while the former Ravens guard Ben Cleveland was handed a three-game ban last season. The league, however, has historically refrained from giving a lifetime ban for drug use; this is because it focuses on rehabilitation and suspensions to help recover from the substance issue rather than banning them for life.