Cowboys linebacker McClain banned for another year: reports

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain, set to return Monday after a 10-game ban for violating the NFL’s drug policy, will instead be suspended for another year, according to reports Sunday.
The NFL Network and ESPN reported that McClain, a planned starter at middle linebacker for the Cowboys when the 2016 campaign began until testing positive for opiates, reportedly has missed another drug test to incur the extra year’s ban.
While McClain is expected to appeal the latest punishment, there were also reports he was not interested in returning to the NFL.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had said that McClain would not be back with the team, which was off to an NFL-best 8-1 start, when he was eligible to return on Monday, three days before the Cowboys play host to arch-rival Washington in their annual Thanksgiving Day holiday game.
Instead, McClain would be banished for the remainder of this season and into November of next year. ESPN reported he would then have to apply for reinstatement after the missed drug test, part of tougher protocol on prior offenders or those being suspended.
McClain, 27, was signed as a free agent on a one-year contract for $5 million by Dallas. He missed the first four games of the 2015 campaign for a drug violation but played 11 games and made 97 tackles, two of them quarterback sacks, and an interception.