Posts tagged MattLehr at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Convicted steroid distributor David Jacobs tells the New York Times that he counseled about 10 NFL players on how to exploit loopholes in the league's drug testing program, including taking the drug finasteride, which is found in the anti-balding medications Propecia and Proscar and which can mask the presence of steroids in urine tests.

Finasteride is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but it is not banned by the NFL. According to Jacobs, players have received prescriptions from team doctors, claiming that repeatedly putting their helmets on and taking them off was making them go bald.

Jacobs, who was sentenced on Thursday to three years' probation for distributing steroids, has said he helped NFL players, including Saints lineman Matt Lehr, obtain and use steroids. He now says he'll talk to the NFL about how to make its drug testing more effective -- but he says he won't name names.

Federal authorities have issued a subpoena to an unnamed player on the Atlanta Falcons to testify before a federal grand jury in Texas investigating steroids, Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times is reporting.

Although the identity of that player has not been revealed, one of the subjects of the grand jury's investigation has been: Matt Lehr, an offensive lineman who signed this off-season with the Saints has previously played for the Buccaneers, Falcons, Rams and Cowboys. Lehr, whose name surfaced in connection to this case during the 2007 season, served a four-game suspension in 2006 after failing a drug test.

Lehr's lawyer said Lehr is under investigation because David Jacobs, a Texas personal trainer who pleaded guilty to steroid-distribution charges in November, is trying to get back at Lehr for refusing to pay his legal fees. "He threatened Matt and said you have to pay my attorney's fees or I am going to end your career," Lehr's lawyer told the Times.

The Saints signed Lehr as a free agent last month; it is unclear whether they knew at the time that Lehr was a target of this grand jury investigation.

Two days ago, word first surfaced that a man who had worked as a personal trainer to Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys players was pleading guilty to steroid distribution and would cooperate with authorities.

Today the Dallas Morning News reports that Matt Lehr, who currently plays for the Buccaneers and has previously played for both the Falcons and Cowboys, is one of the players whose name was supplied by David Jacobs, the personal trainer.

That's not exactly a shock, seeing as Lehr served a four-game suspension after failing a drug test last year, while he played for the Falcons. But it is the first indication that we're going to be hearing names of active NFL players coming out of this story, and reports indicate that Lehr's name will not be the last.