One day after Golden Tate received his appeal fate from the NFL, which upheld the Giants wide receiver's four-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, he opened up on the decision following Wednesday's practice.
Among his comments, Tate said he is considering taking legal action against the doctor who prescribed him the drug.
"We are definitely looking into it, we are kind of examining all of our options," Tate said. "This all came out a few days ago, so I'm still trying to get through camp, trying my best to focus and continue to be a leader for this organization, and practice hard."
Tate said that the fertility drug he took was clomiphene, also called "clomid," which had been considered by the doctor as fine to take after previously prescribing the substance for two other unnamed NFL players.
"A few weeks after my test, I went back and spoke to the doctor," Tate said. "Well, initially, the doctor said it was not a banned substance. In fact, he'd given it to two other NFL players, which is why I kind of trusted it and kind of kept living my life. I was out to dinner one night with the guy who worked for me and we started talking about another player who was getting suspended for something completely different and a light went off in my head, 'Let me just call the doctor and make sure, just to make myself feel better.' I asked him what the active ingredient was and we looked it up right then and there and sure enough, it was a banned substance."
Tate immediately discontinued his intake of the drug, but the NFL's zero-tolerance policy kept the four-game suspension intact.
"I just thought, after we looked at the facts in the situation, that the NFL would be understanding," he said. "But because it's a no-tolerance policy, they, I guess, upheld the suspension."
With the absences of Tate, Corey Coleman (ACL tear) and possibly Sterling Shepard (fractured thumb), the Giants' next wide receivers up are currently Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler and Russell Shepard for the Sept. 8 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
"I have no problem accepting the punishment," Tate said. "Ultimately, I'm responsible for what's put in my body. The tough thing I'm dealing with is I'm letting down a lot of people -- my family, the guys in the locker room, the organization that brought me here. That's what's been crushing me."