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UPDATE: This comes from ESPN's Ben Goessling:
David Valentini, attorney for Jerome Simpson, said the receiver was in New York today appealing a three-game suspension.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) August 19, 2014
So, it would appear that Simpson has already been suspended. Anticipate not having him for the first three games of the season.
One of the questions that has been hanging over the Minnesota Vikings throughout this pre-season concerns the fate of wide receiver Jerome Simpson. Last November, Simpson refused to take a sobriety test after being pulled over by police, and was charged with driving under the influence as well as refusing to take the test.
Simpson did not end up facing any further legal discipline. . .which is lucky, as he was still on probation for the whole "sending himself marijuana via FedEx" incident that occurred when he was a member of the Cincinnati Bengals prior to signing with Minnesota. However, that doesn't mean that he's going to escape discipline from the league, and he missed practice on Monday because he was discussing that with league officials.
Simpson missed the first three games of his Vikings career after the fallout from that incident, and based on the fact that he is a repeat offender, he is probably looking at a suspension in this case, too. How long? Who knows?
Simpson has caught two passes for 25 yards so far this pre-season. Depending on who you ask, he's either the #3 or #4 receiver on the depth chart right now behind Cordarrelle Patterson, Greg Jennings, and (perhaps) Jarius Wright.
If Simpson were to be suspended, it could open the door for young receivers such as Rodney Smith, the receiving hero of Saturday's pre-season win over Arizona, or local product and training camp standout Adam Thielen. If Simpson is not suspended and available to start the season, the odds are pretty good that one of those two guys isn't making the team.
Or the Vikings could jettison Simpson (who took a significant pay cut to re-sign with the team this off-season) and keep both Thielen and Smith on the 53-man roster. It's hard to tell at this point, but at least we should have some resolution to this story in the very near future.