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I am not surprised that Brian Cushing held onto the defensive rookie of the year award in the Associated Press’ revote.

The AP reported Cushing got 18 votes, Buffalo safety Jairus Byrd got 13 to finish second and Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews finished third with 10. Three voters were unable to return ballots and two abstained.

Why did Cushing retain his award after the positive test from September under the league’s policy against performance enhancing drugs?

I agree with this tweet from Stephanie Stradley (@StephStradley) that answers that question:

"Cushing retains DROY bc :1 He was best; 2. Discomfort in speed/change of AP DROY voting rules for just this; 3. No clear 2nd place candidate"

Also, Cushing was eligible to play in all 16 games last season, and the vote is based on what an eligible player did. My problem is as much with the testing/suspending process as the award.

He’ll serve the suspension when he has to. That, and a dented reputation, seem to me to be a just penalty for his violation. Stripping him would have set a new precedent. Some say that would have been a bold, good development. I think it would be complicated and sloppy and still wonder now what circumstances will produce the next revote.

So defensive rookie of the year remains a line on his resume. We’ll also remember that season is connected to the four-game suspension still to come.

One interesting connected note, courtesy of Manish Mehta: Cushing's USC teammate Mark Sanchez was blown away by the news of the positive test and suspension.

I wrote this post back in December during awards season and thought sharing this list again made sense now. These are the voters reconsidering Brian Cushing's defensive rookie of the year award.

New results -- or the same results again -- are expected Thursday afternoon.

Rich Cimini is listed here with the paper he was with when the initial vote was held. He's since left the Daily News and is with ESPNNewYork. Matt Maiocco is also with a new outlet -- CSNBayArea.com.

After a positive test that put Brian Cushing in violation of the league’s policy against performance-enhancing drugs, we're asking if the Houston Texans star should be stripped of his defensive rookie of the year award from last season.

I think it’s too simple a question, and not the right one -- even as the Associated Press is having a re-vote.

Cushing reportedly failed the test in September. He wasn’t told he’d be suspended until February. He didn’t get word on his appeal until recently.

Cushing was eligible to play last season. How then can he be stripped? There isn't a separate category for players with positive tests registered that have been processed too slowly. Do we really want one?

I don’t. I want a faster process that assures that all the guys on the field are even, none benefitting from any unnatural advantages.

I also worry about an AP reversal nudging the league over the edge and onto a slippery slope. If Cushing is stripped, every award winner would be under a microscope he doesn't necessarily deserve.

And in what people like to call the ultimate team game, might not your performance-enhancing drug use help put a player in position for awards and the sort of contractual rewards that can come with them?

Let's say an offensive player of the year is a running back and some of his linemen tested positive. Maybe there's a quarterback who is protected by that line or registers some of his numbers by throwing to an enhanced receiver. Maybe there are defensive tackles who keep an MVP middle linebacker clear to make plays but who are later found to have used performance enhancers.

Would each of those awards rate as tainted and would the second-place finisher have a beef?

“John Doe is NFL MVP,” the reports would read, “presuming a positive test doesn’t come to light.” So we’d announce the award winners and then later we could have news reports that they passed their drug tests, confirming the awards and allowing for the engraver to go ahead and get to work on the plaques or trophies.

In light of all of that, I’d alter the question to this:

Why can’t a filthy-rich league accelerate the drug testing process and expedite results and rulings and appeals? And wouldn’t that assure us, as best is as reasonable to expect, that the players on the field are in good standing with the league, and thus with the voters determining post-season awards?

The league's perspective when I asked about its time line and wondered about making it faster: A reminder that "due process can be lengthy."

Tedy Bruschi and Mark Schlereth discuss Brian Cushing's suspension.

Paul Kuharsky is currently in the air and on his way to ESPN headquarters, but AFC East blogger Tim Graham has the story on how the Associated Press is considering taking away Brian Cushing's defensive rookie of the year award for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances. From Graham's post:

Asked if Cushing could be stripped, AP reporter Barry Wilner, who oversees balloting for the wire service's annual NFL awards, told [Graham] in an e-mail "we are looking into it." Wilner didn't elaborate on what would happen if the AP did strip Cushing.

Look for Paul to weigh in on Cushing possibly losing the award once he's back on terra firma.

Friday night I posted this about Brian Cushing. Here are some more thoughts on his suspension for a violation of the league's policy against performance-enhancing drugs:

Look, it’s a hard-line league with a hard-line policy. A lot of readers have said: “Wait, we have to see what he tested positive for.” I disagree. And the fact that in his statement he didn’t offer up what he claims it was, but only that it wasn’t a steroid, weakened his public case. He ingested something he wasn’t supposed to. It might have been by mistake, but even if it was, it doesn’t matter under the policy. Violate it and suffer the consequences of perception.

Cushing missed most of training camp last year with a knee injury. The suspension for the first four weeks of the regular season puts a difficult wrinkle into Gary Kubiak’s training camp and preseason plans. How much doesn’t Cushing play with the first team? How much time does his likely replacement, Xavier Adibi, get? Or if Kubiak creates a competitive situation for the job for the first quarter of the season, how does Kubiak hold that battle during camp and still weave Cushing into the action?

I wish I remembered where I read someone tweeting this over the weekend, but certainly it’s a popular thought. Can you imagine the outcry if Andrew Bailey or Chris Coghlan, the AL and NL rookies of the year for baseball in 2009, got suspended for violating a policy against performance enhancers? The NFL had done well insulating itself, somehow, from a similar outcry in the exact same situation. I’ve seen and heard a lot of disappointment, even some disgust. Most of it’s about the Texans having to play without him for the first four games. There isn’t an outcry I am hearing insisting that Cushing give back the defensive rookie of the year award or that the league strip him of it.

Finally, Cushing’s suspension created quite an interesting conversation about loyalty on Twitter. Jay Glazer of Fox covers the NFL and also trains several players in mixed martial arts to improve their conditioning, strength and agility. He quickly tweeted that he was “livid” and that his company has “a pretty strict policy against cheaters.” Texans right offensive tackle Eric Winston also chimed in.

Here’s a bit more on how it went in the Twitterverse:

2:21 PM May 8th @Jay_Glazer: “Right now, no, we will not be training him. We do not want to be associated w any of this crap. Gotta cool off b4 we make a final decision”

3:51 PM May 8th @ericwinston: “Wow! With friends like Jay Glazer who needs enemies! He used Cush to pump up his service and then when Cush hits a bump in the road, he”

3:52 PM May 8th @ericwinston: “Wants nothing to do with him. Sad to see just another guy out there for personal gain and could care less about the people he works with.”

3:53 PM May 8th @ericwinston: I'm not saying Cush it's ok to break the rules but you stick by your friends, not run from them when they face adversity.

6:44 PM May 8th @Jay_Glazer: “Last thing on Cush, he'll always be my boy! Love training him. Randy& I have to take a hard stance on some things. Hope we all get past this”

8:08 PM May 8th @Jay_Glazer: “Hey, this is new ground for me and randy, we're trying to swim our way through. I don't think there's any clear-cut answer. Day by day”

The Houston Texans were understandably filled with pride over nailing the 15th pick in the 2009 draft. They wanted to add a more physical, sturdier linebacker to their defense and they sure got one in Brian Cushing, who won defensive rookie of the year.

But now with Adam Schefter’s report that a failed test under the league’s policy against performance enhancing substances and an unsuccessful appeal mean Cushing will miss the first four games of 2010, all that comes into question.

Why exactly was he more physical and sturdier?

No matter any explanation we hear for the test, or if there is an admission, opponents and fans will wonder about that rookie year.

Cushing proved smart in his first year in the league, in that while even a good share of veterans around the league often don’t make the Sunday lineup if they don’t practice, he could. Sidelined during the week by multiple knee problems, rib fractures, a broken hand and a broken pinkie he was able to play when it counted.

Now we ask, what helped him do so? And we wonder just how smart he really was if he was taking something and failing a test and an appeal.

He will miss games against the Colts, at the Redskins, the Cowboys and at the Raiders.

The opener, against a defending AFC Champion the Texans have beaten just once since they began play in 2002, and that game against the Cowboys, where Houston will be anxious to dent the state’s hallowed NFL franchise, would have been tough enough with Cushing.

Xavier Adibi would likely be the third linebacker during that stretch, joining middle man DeMeco Ryans and Zac Diles. Diles would likely flip to Cushing’s strongside with Adibi taking over on the weakside.

Veteran Kevin Bentley and fourth-round pick Darryl Sharpton out of Miami are also in the mix.

Adam Schefter reports that Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing has been suspended four games for violating the NFL's steroid policy.