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Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner suspension appeals: David Vobora shares his appeals process & eventual success

The ex-Seahawk player told 710 ESPN Radio that if the two Seahawks are innocent they need to do everything in their power to clear their names.

By Peter Woodbrook
Scott Boehm

Ex-Seahawk David Vobora took to the Kevin Calabro Show on 710 ESPN Radio to tell Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman that if they are innocent, then to do whatever it takes to clear your name.

Both Browner and Sherman are facing four-game suspensions for violating the league's doping policies and testing positive for Adderall.

The NFL suspended Vobora in 2009 after testing positive for a supplement containing a banned substance. He contends that he even called the NFL hotline and the league told him there was nothing in the substance that would trigger a positive test.

Vobora says that if Sherman and Browner knowingly took it, they need to own up so that they will be back in time for the playoffs, otherwise they need to fight it with everything they've got.

"Your name is really what you hang your hat on, and when that's tainted and you get labeled as a cheater and you do everything ... I really have prided myself on hard work and doing things by the book. I feel like my work ethic has taken me as far as it has, and when something like that gets tainted, I mean, to the outside world, you look guilty."

He acknowledges that at the end of the day, each player is responsible for what they put into their body, and the lack of regulation by the FDA in the supplemental world can cause a problem for players.

"You could go pick up some of your buddies and get some rice, flour and creatine and mix your own supplement and put a label on it and throw it on [a shelf] with it."

Vobora ended up suing the company that made the product he tested positive for because they didn't list ingredients that were used in the supplement. He was eventually awarded $5.4 million by a federal judge ruling in his favor. But even though he won the settlement in court, the stigma still hung over in the NFL, he told 710 ESPN.

"If you know the truth, live up to the truth, own the truth and stand by it. If you are in fact innocent then fight it; fight it at all costs. Stand up for who you are and what you do and what you've done on the field and put your stamp on it.' That's probably my best advice."

Browner and Sherman continue to play while their appeals are considered.