Report: Richard Sherman Claims Leaky Collection Cup to Blame for Positive Performance-Enhancing Drug Test

by Doug Kyed on Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 4:48PM

Richard Sherman may just get out of his four-game suspension after all.

The Seahawks cornerback has been fighting his ban for a violation of the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy for almost a month now since word came down on Nov. 25 that he and teammate Brandon Browner failed tests. Sherman is claiming the cup that contained his urine sample was leaking, which forced the collector to use a second cup to capture the leakage, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.

Since the collector had to break the seal on the second cup, the chain of custody was broken. Because the seal was broken, the urine sample could become contaminated. If the story holds up, Sherman’s suspension could be wiped out.

Sherman is expected to play Seattle’s Week 16 game against the 49ers regardless. It appears that Sherman isn’t only using his Stanford smarts on the field. He’s using them off the field to avoid discipline as well.