It’s an otherwise slow Friday afternoon, but we already have our second suspension of the day. Not long after Rams center Aaron Neary was slapped with a four-game ban, Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata is being suspended for the first game of the 2019 season, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Schefter reports that it’s for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. Onyemata was cited for Marijuana possession back in February, and the suspension likely stems from that incident. Onyemata was drafted in the fourth round back in 2016, and he’s taken on a big role in New Orleans. He played nearly 60 percent of the defensive snaps for the Saints last year, so this is a big loss.
Onyemata had an interesting path to the NFL, as he grew up in Nigeria. After moving to Canada, he became a breakout football star despite never having played the sport prior to moving. He was invited to the East-West Shrine Game despite never playing American college football, and the Saints drafted him 120th overall.
After playing a rotational role as a rookie, he started playing a lot more the last couple of years. In 2018 he racked up 35 tackles and 4.5 sacks while appearing in all 16 games and starting four. He received very strong marks from Pro Football Focus, grading out as their 24th-best defensive lineman last year. Sheldon Rankins tore his Achilles at the end of last season, and with Onyemata now on the shelf the Saints could be pretty thin at defensive tackle in Week 1.