Athletes Who Faced the Toughest Suspensions in History

Since 2001, the use of performance-enhancing drugs and other related substances has resulted in NFL players being suspended more than 250 times. Athletes have also been suspended for sexual misconduct, gambling, and violence. This ongoing bad behavior has led to several disciplinary actions, some much more severe than others.

To identify the athletes who faced the toughest suspensions in history, 24/7 Wall St. analyzed data from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, along with information from the Sports Reference family of sites and Spotrac. The focus was on players who missed more than one full season's worth of games due to suspensions.

Rankings were based on the total number of seasons or equivalent game time missed throughout their careers. Indefinite or lifetime suspensions given while players were inactive or retired were excluded from consideration.

Several severe offenses committed by athletes are not included on this list because their prison sentences took precedence over any suspension, as was the case for NFL wide receiver Rae Carruth who was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.

Among the players listed, some were punished for violating their leagues' substance abuse policies, others for using performance-enhancing drugs, or for personal conduct and domestic abuse issues. Many of these athletes received multiple sanctions for similar infractions. Several were once all-stars before their careers were derailed.

This post was updated on October 15, 2025 to clarify the date of the "Malice at the Palace" incident vs. the 2012 incident, Bauer's reduced suspension, and Mejia's reinstatement.

Here are the athletes who faced the toughest suspensions in history:

• Total suspensions: 20 games (1.25 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2002
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Buffalo Bills

Robertson, a defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills, was suspended in October 2002 for multiple violations of the NFL's substance-abuse policy. At just 23 years old, Robertson had played 12 games as a rookie, recording 27 tackles and two sacks. During his first season, he was frequently fined for being late to team meetings.

• Total suspensions: 212 games (1.31 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2012, 2016
• Reason(s) for suspension: Performance-enhancing drugs
• Team(s): Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Guardians

In June 2016, the much-traveled baseball player Marlon Byrd was suspended for 162 games after the 38-year-old tested positive for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug and prevention program for the second time in his career.

The suspension effectively ended his career. Byrd, who was playing for Cleveland (his 10th team), became the third player to receive a 162-game ban from MLB, joining Alex Rodriguez (2013) and Jenrry Mejia (2015).

• Total suspensions: 111 games (1.35 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012
• Reason(s) for suspension: Violent conduct
• Team(s): Indiana Pacers

Metta Sandiford-Artest, formerly known as Ron Artest, faced a total of 111 games in suspensions over four years due to violent conduct. As a forward for the Indiana Pacers, Artest was infamously involved in one of the sports' most notorious brawls during a 2004 game against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace in Auburn Hills. The incident became known as "Malice at the Palace".

After a fan threw a beer at him, Artest jumped into the stands and attacked the spectator, leading to a brawl involving teammates, flying bottles, and thrown chairs. For this incident, Artest received an 86-game suspension, the longest non-drug-related suspension in NBA history. In 2012, as a Laker, he elbowed James Harden and got a 7-game suspension.

• Total suspensions: 22 games (1.38 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2006
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Green Bay Packers

Koren Robinson, wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, was suspended without pay in October 2006 for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. The action by the NFL came after Robinson pleaded not guilty to charges of drunken driving and fleeing police during a high-speed chase in the previous August when he was playing for the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings cut Robinson and he was picked up by the Packers.

• Total suspensions: 22 games (1.38 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2016-2019
• Reason(s) for suspension: Player safety violations
• Team(s): Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders

Linebacker Vontaze Burfict has had a turbulent NFL career with four suspensions. three of which were for on-field incidents. The latest was a 12-game suspension for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle. In 2016, Burfict was suspended for three games due to multiple violations of player safety rules.

The following year, he received a five-game suspension for hitting a defenseless player, which was later reduced to three games upon appeal. In 2018, Burfict missed four games for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drugs policy. A one-time Pro Bowler, Burfict has had 17 encounters with the NFL's disciplinary office.

• Total suspensions: 23 games (1.44 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2015, 2016, 2018
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders

Wide receiver Martavis Bryant had a promising career snuffed out by repeated violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy. He had been suspended three times in four years by the league, with the final action in December 2018 for violating the terms of his conditional reinstatement from a previous ban. Bryant, drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2014, is no longer playing in the NFL.

• Total suspensions: 242 games (1.5 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2015, 2016
• Reason(s) for suspension: Performance-enhancing drugs
• Team(s): New York Mets

In February 2016, Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia became the first player to receive a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. This was Mejia's third positive PED test within a year, resulting in a permanent suspension. MLB reinstated him in 2018.

• Total suspensions: 242 games (1.5 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2019, 2020
• Reason(s) for suspension: Performance-enhancing drugs
• Team(s): Houston Astros

Francis Martes was a top pitching prospect for the Houston Astros whose career was hindered by Tommy John surgery in 2017 and then derailed by several suspensions for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Martes completed his second suspension in June 2021, but he never fulfilled his promise with the Astros, who released him in August 2021.

• Total suspensions: 242 games (1.5 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2018, 2020
• Reason(s) for suspension: Performance-enhancing drugs
• Team(s): New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees

Robinson Canó, one of the greatest second basemen of all time, was suspended by Major League Baseball in November 2020 for the entire 2021 season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

Before joining the New York Mets, Canó played for the Seattle Mariners during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He had previously served an 80-game suspension in 2018 for violating MLB's joint drug prevention and treatment program while with the Mariners.

• Total suspensions: 24 games (1.5 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2007
• Reason(s) for suspension: Personal conduct
• Team(s): Tennessee Titans

Adam "Pacman" Jones was a Pro Bowl cornerback who played for various teams including the Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, and Denver Broncos. The Titans drafted him in 2005 with the sixth overall pick, though they were concerned about his prior off-field incidents.

Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season under the personal conduct policy and his involvement in a shooting in Las Vegas.

• Total suspensions: 24 games (1.5 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2017-2019
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse, performance-enhancing drugs
• Team(s): Dallas Cowboys

Defensive lineman David Irving of the Dallas Cowboys was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the league's substance abuse policy. This was the third suspension in the 25-year-old's career, having previously been banned for the first four games of both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Irving joined the Cowboys in 2015 and played with them for four seasons. He did not play in 2019 and later joined the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, where he played two games before leaving the NFL.

• Total suspensions: 28 games (1.75 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2002
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Oakland Raiders

Darrell Russell, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman with the Oakland Raiders, spent much of his life fighting personal demons off the field, and in 2001 and 2002, the NFL suspended him for drug abuse. His life came to a tragic end in 2005 when he and a former teammate at USC died in a car crash following a high-speed chase in Los Angeles.

• Total suspensions: 28 games (1.75 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1995, 1996, 1999
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Dallas Cowboys

Leon Lett, the Pro Bowl defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, won three Super Bowls with America's Team. He gained notoriety for his premature touchdown celebration in Super Bowl 27 in 1993 when, after recovering a fumble and sprinting 64 yards, he had the ball knocked out of his hand just before reaching the end zone.

Lett was suspended three times during his career for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, including a 16-game ban spanning the 1996 and 1997 seasons.

• Total suspensions: 30 games (1.88 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1999, 2000, 2003
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Tennessee Titans

Josh Evans was a defensive lineman for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans who later joined the New York Jets and helped them reach the playoffs in 2002. After that season, he played only seven more games with the Jets.

He was suspended for substance abuse in 2003 after he violated the league's substance abuse policy for a third time. After playing one game in 2004, he left football. In 2021, Evans died after a battle with kidney cancer.

• Total suspensions: 30 games (1.88 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2006
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Miami Dolphins

One-time Pro Bowl running back Ricky Williams never hid his marijuana use during his 11-year NFL career with the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, and Baltimore Ravens. He claimed it helped him manage pain, depression, and social anxiety disorder.

Williams faced multiple suspensions for marijuana use, resulting in a one-year suspension in 2006 for using additional drugs.

• Total suspensions: 31 games (1.94 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2001
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Jacksonville Jaguars

R. Jay Soward, a wide receiver out of USC, was projected to be a star for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Instead, the former 29th overall pick in the 2000 draft, the player that Jacksonville believed could help it win the Super Bowl, played only 13 games for the Jags, falling victim to alcohol and drug abuse. He was suspended multiple times between 2000 and 2002.

• Total suspensions: 31 games (1.94 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2000, 2002
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Denver Broncos

Dale Carter, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive back who played for five teams, missed the entire 2000 season due to violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. He returned in 2001 to play for the Minnesota Vikings. After signing with the New Orleans Saints in 2002, he faced another suspension for again violating the league's substance abuse policy.

• Total suspensions: 31 games (1.94 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2014, 2015, 2019
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Miami Dolphins

Defensive end Dion Jordan has missed a total of 31 games in his career, including the entire 2015 season, for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Jordan, a former No. 3 overall draft pick by the Miami Dolphins who played for four teams, was suspended again in 2019 for 10 games for a violation of the NFL's PED policy.

• Total suspensions: 32 games (2 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1988
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Indianapolis Colts

Pro Bowl running back Tony Collins was the first player to be suspended from the National Football League following a positive test for banned substances after he signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 1988. Collins' drug problem began in 1982 when he became dependent on pain relievers after sustaining a leg injury with the New England Patriots.

When the NFL suspended him for four games in 1988, he appealed the suspension, saying he had never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. His appeal was denied after it was revealed that he had used PCP on two separate occasions. He played for the Oakland Raiders the next year, but failed another drug test, and was banned from football.

• Total suspensions: 32 games (2 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1995, 1996, 2000
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Baltimore Ravens

Defensive end Larry Webster, who played on the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens and three other NFL teams, faced suspensions for parts of three seasons due to substance abuse violations. His 1996 suspension cost him the entire season. Over his career, Webster had a total of four violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy.

• Total suspensions: 324 games (2 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2022, 2023
• Reason(s) for suspension: Domestic violence
• Team(s): Los Angeles Dodgers

Major League Baseball handed down a two-year suspension to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer in April 2022 for violating the league's domestic violence and sexual assault policy after a woman from San Diego accused him of assault. MLB initially suspended Bauer 324 games, but an independent arbitrator reduced it to 194 games. He was immediately reinstated to the league on December 22, 2022, but the Dodgers released him shortly after.Bauer has consistently denied the allegations.

• Total suspensions: 164 games (2 seasons)
• Suspended in: 1991-1992, 1993-1994
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Phoenix Suns

Phoenix Suns forward Richard Dumas missed two full seasons, 1991-92 and 1993-94, for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy. Dumas said he first tried crack in high school and was using drugs at Oklahoma State University.

He admitted he had anxiety before NBA games, to the point where he needed to drink a six-pack of beer before each one. After his playing days were over, Dumas said he was diagnosed with manic bipolar depression with social anxiety disorder.

• Total suspensions: 334 games (2.06 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1984, 1988, 1992
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins

Pitcher Steve Howe was a rookie of the year, an All-Star, and a World Series champion – and also an addict. During a 12-year career where he pitched for four different teams, Howe was suspended seven times by his employers and Major League Baseball because of abusing alcohol and cocaine. Howe died in a car accident in 2006, after which an autopsy revealed the presence of methamphetamine in his body.

• Total suspensions: 33 games (2.06 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 2007
• Reason(s) for suspension: Dogfighting
• Team(s): Atlanta Falcons

Michael Vick, a four-time Pro Bowler, and extraordinarily talented quarterback, shocked the sports world in 2007 with his involvement in illegal dogfighting. Found guilty of funding and operating the activity, Vick was sentenced to two years in federal prison. The NFL also condemned Vick for associating with known gamblers.

In a letter, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that Vick had "engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of the NFL and violated the league's personal conduct policy." After serving his sentence, Vick returned to the NFL in 2009 and played for three teams.

• Total suspensions: 37 games (2.31 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2016, 2019, 2020
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Dallas Cowboys

Randy Gregory was an integral part of the Dallas Cowboys' defense for five years. But for some of that time, Gregory was suspended because he violated the collective bargaining agreement policies regarding marijuana, which Gregory said he used to self-medicate to battle anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder.

The new CBA in 2020, Gregory was allowed to return from suspension. Gregory eschewed a contract from the Cowboys and signed a five-year, $70 million contract in March with the Denver Broncos.

• Total suspensions: 38 games (2.38 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2008
• Reason(s) for suspension: Gun charge
• Team(s): New York Giants

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress began 2008 with a memorable touchdown catch that won Super Bowl 42 for the New York Giants. However, the year ended on a much darker note when he accidentally shot himself in a nightclub, leading to a suspension by the Giants.

The situation worsened due to the illegal possession of a firearm in New York, which resulted in mandatory jail time. Burress served 20 months behind bars before returning to the NFL. He played two more seasons and ended his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012.

• Total suspensions: 48 games (3 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1985, 1987, 1989
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Cincinnati Bengals

When Stanley Wilson was on the football field, he was effective. Playing running back for the Cincinnati Bengals in 1986, Wilson scored eight touchdowns in just 10 games. He also scored two in the Bengals' divisional playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks on the road to the 1989 Super Bowl.

But staying on the field was problematic for Wilson, whose cocaine habit cost him the 1985 and 1987 seasons for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. He had been in drug treatment programs five times.

Wilson was using cocaine the day before the Bengals were set to face the San Francisco 49ers in the 1989 Super Bowl and never played in that game – which the Bengals lost. He never played in the NFL after that.

• Total suspensions: 36 games (3 seasons) (tie)
• Suspended in: 1947-1949
• Reason(s) for suspension: Gambling
• Team(s): New York Giants

Two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Frank Filchock played a key role in leading the New York Giants to the 1946 NFL Championship Game, despite throwing 25 interceptions in just 11 games. He was accused of accepting a bribe to lose the championship game to the Chicago Bears by more than 10 points, a game in which he threw six interceptions.

The Giants lost 24-14. Although Filchock claimed he had turned down the bribe, the NFL imposed a lifetime ban on him, which was lifted three years later.

• Total suspensions: 55 games (3.43 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2009-2011, 2013-2014
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders

Even though free safety Tanard Jackson played just 56 games in his NFL career, he intercepted the ball 10 times, five times in 2009, while playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Jackson was in constant trouble with the NFL over substance abuse and was suspended by the league four times for violating its drug policy. The last time was in 2014, just after he signed with the Washington Redskins (now Commanders).

• Total suspensions: 73 games (4.56 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2013-2020
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse
• Team(s): Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks

Pro Bowl wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Josh Gordon has struggled with staying on the field due to repeated suspensions. The NFL has banned him six times for using performance-enhancing drugs and violating the league's substance abuse policy.

These issues have led to Gordon missing 73 games, including the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons. Gordon's drug problems began in college, where he had multiple drug-related incidents.

• Total suspensions: 80 games (5 seasons)
• Suspended in: 2014-2019
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse, personal conduct
• Team(s): San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders

Pro Bowl Linebacker Aldon Smith was a dominant force in 2012, recording 19.5 sacks for the San Francisco 49ers. The No. 7 overall draft pick in 2011 played a key role in helping the 49ers reach Super Bowl 47 in 2013.

Since 2012, however, he has been a running timeline of arrests for weapons charges, making false bomb threats, driving under the influence, vandalism, and suspensions from the NFL because he violated the league's substance abuse policy. Smith missed four entire seasons from 2016 through 2019.

• Total suspensions: 444 games (5.41 seasons)
• Suspended in: 1989, 1991-1994, 1995-1997
• Reason(s) for suspension: Substance abuse, personal conduct
• Team(s): Dallas Mavericks

Roy Tarpley's is one of the saddest of sports stories. Tarpley was selected as the No. 7 overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft from the University of Michigan by the Dallas Mavericks. He made the All-Rookie Team in 1986-87, and the next year the 6-11 Tarpley helped the Mavs push the Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Then it all came apart. He was arrested twice for DUI and was suspended for life from the NBA after the second violation. He was reinstated in 1994, but he was banned again for violating the league's aftercare program. From 1991-92 to 1996-97, Tarpley missed five full NBA seasons. He died in 2015 at the age of 50.

• Total suspensions: Life
• Suspended in: 1927
• Reason(s) for suspension: Attacking a referee
• Team(s): Boston Bruins

Billy Coutu, known as a brawler, was a hockey player with a reputation for rough play. During the 1927 Stanley Cup Finals' decisive game between the Boston Bruins and Ottowa Senators, a heated altercation broke out as the clock wound down and Ottawa led.

As players left the ice, Boston coaches and players directed their frustration at referee Billy Bell, who was trying to break up the two teams. Coutu tackled the referee, resulting in a lifetime boot from the NHL. Just over two years later, Coutu was reinstated, but he had lost his previous form and spent the remainder of his career in the minor leagues.

• Total suspensions: Life
• Suspended in: 1951
• Reason(s) for suspension: Fixing games
• Team(s): Various

The City College of New York is the only school to win both the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament in the same year, 1950. Unfortunately for CCNY, the school holds another dubious distinction – its involvement in college basketball's infamous point-shaving scandal.

In 1951, 32 college basketball players from seven different schools around the country were snagged in an organized crime-run point-shaving scheme that impacted four New York schools and three out-of-state teams, including the University of Kentucky. Most of those implicated were CCNY players and the school never returned to major college basketball.

• Total suspensions: Life
• Suspended in: 1921
• Reason(s) for suspension: Throwing the World Series
• Team(s): Chicago White Sox

More than a century after it occurred, the Chicago White Sox scandal remains the most notorious episode in American sports. Orchestrated by gambler Arnold Rothstein, members of the favored Chicago White Sox – frustrated by their stingy owner, Charles Comiskey – were bribed to fix the 1919 World Series by intentionally losing to the Cincinnati Reds.

While game-fixing was nothing new, rigging the World Series crossed the line and was seen as a severe breach of the game's integrity. The scandal prompted the establishment of the baseball commissioner's office, with Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a stern former federal judge, becoming the first commissioner. He issued lifetime bans to eight White Sox players for their involvement with gamblers.