Former Vikings LB Kentrell Brothers Suspended Nine Games by NFL

Former Vikings linebacker Kentrell Brothers has been suspended nine games by the NFL, according to ESPN's Field Yates.

"Free agent LB Kentrell Brothers, who spent the past four seasons with the Vikings, has been suspended for the first nine weeks of next season, per source," Yates tweeted. "This is his second NFL suspension."

Free agent LB Kentrell Brothers, who spent the past four seasons with the Vikings, has been suspended for the first nine weeks of next season, per source. This is his second NFL suspension.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 17, 2020

Yates didn't say what the suspension is for, but given its length, it's fairly obvious that it's for performance-enhancing drugs. Brothers was suspended for the first four games in 2018 for violating the league's PED policy, so a second offense would understandably be a longer one.

Brothers, 27, was a fifth-round pick of the Vikings out of Missouri in 2016. He had been a second-team All-American as a senior, but posted very poor athletic numbers at the combine in every area other than agility.

During his four years with the Vikings, Brothers rarely saw the field on defense, but he developed into a key special teams player. Over his first three seasons, he played 14 defensive snaps and nearly 700 snaps on special teams. Last year, he played a career-high 110 defensive snaps, making his first NFL start in Week 17. Brothers had 55 tackles and a sack during his time in Minnesota.

The Vikings elected not to re-sign Brothers after his rookie contract expired this offseason, and he is still a free agent with training camp approaching. This suspension doesn't help his chances of landing with a team, and it's possible that it could signal the end of his NFL career.

To replenish their depth at linebacker, the Vikings signed former XFL star DeMarquis Gates, drafted Oregon's Troy Dye, and brought in a pair of UDFAs.

Check out all of our Vikings 2020 season preview content right here.

Join the conversation at InsideTheVikings by clicking the follow button in the upper right-hand corner of this page (mobile users, tap the bell icon – you may have to click ‘News’ first), and follow @WillRagatz on Twitter.