Denver Broncos kicker Matt Prater will be suspended for the first four games of the 2014 season after violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, Prater confirmed to Mike Klis of The Denver Post on Saturday night.
According to Klis, the violation was alcohol-related. Prater has been in the NFL’s alcohol program since August 2011, when he was charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a crash.
The league is expected to announce the suspension Monday, and the team does not expect him to appeal it.
“I’ve made some mistakes,” Prater said, via The Denver Post. “I’m accepting full responsibility. I’ll learn from it and come back a better person. I want to apologize to my teammates, my coaches, the Broncos’ organization and the fans.”
Prater’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, added that the suspension came after the 30-year-old had a couple of beers at his house while on vacation.
“No one feels worse about this than Matt Prater,” Steinberg said. “He feels terribly for his teammates. It’s cost him personally, both professionally and financially. I wonder if we shouldn’t take a second look at the policy when only a couple beers were consumed at home while he was on vacation. Having said that, the NFL under the constraints of the policy couldn’t have treated us better.”
Prater, who was the NFL’s second-leading scorer in 2013, led the league with a 96.2 field-goal percentage last season after making 25 of 26 field goal attempts.
Photo via USA TODAY Sports Images/Chris Humphreys
