While Travis Henry was fighting the NFL's attempt to suspend him this season, one of his only supporters was Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. It was surprising for a coach to speak out against the league's drug policy and he got fined for doing it. He was vindicated when the suspension was overturned. History appears to be repeating itself in the wake of Marcus Thomas's arrest. After getting arrested this weekend, Thomas spoke to his coach and now the Broncos are standing up for their defensive tackle.
"The Denver Broncos are aware that Marcus Thomas is under investigation for possession of cocaine and was a passenger where cocaine was found. The owner-operator of the vehicle has since admitted the cocaine was his, and no cocaine was ever found on Marcus Thomas. Within hours of his release, Marcus had a test which confirmed that there was no cocaine in his system."The police report makes no mention of the driver's admission but it's clear that, once again, the Broncos are doing their own investigating into the matter. Henry passed team-administered hair and lie-detector tests that the NFL doesn't recognize to back up their support of the running back and now they've run their own tests on Thomas to show that he wasn't using cocaine.
That's important. Thomas had problems with marijuana while in college and Shanahan reportedly told him there would be zero tolerance for drug use in his Bronco career. The authorities haven't decided what charges will be brought in the case but there's a lot of circumstancial evidence that places Thomas in the wrong place at the wrong time. That could be enough for Roger Goodell to poke his nose into the mix, coke and guns make the hairs stand up on the back of the commish's neck, but it might not be a relatively big deal. So long as he keeps testing negative for drugs it looks like Thomas will be okay with his team.
