Panthers DE Wes Horton, back from 4-game suspension, owns his ‘mistake’

Carolina Panthers defensive end Wes Horton took ownership of his four-game suspension on Tuesday, calling his use of a performance enhancing drug a mistake.

The NFL suspended Horton for four games for a violation of the league’s performance enhancing drug policy. He returned to practice for the first time Tuesday, but he won’t play until as early as next week against Tampa Bay.

“Looking back on it, it was a pretty bad mistake that I made,” Horton said. “I’ve been able to take these last four weeks to think about it, think about not being able to be with the guys or make an impact on the field. It’s definitely something I regret and definitely something I’ll never do again. I’m ready to move on and get past it and put it behind me and be a good player the rest of the season.”

Horton said he has worked the past four weeks to stay in shape and feels that his speed and strength is right where it should be.

In some previous cases in the NFL when players get popped for PEDs, they sometimes say they unknowingly took the drug. Horton wouldn’t say what the drug was, but he didn’t fall back on that commonly used excuse.

“I guess for other guys, take me as an example,” Horton said. “I could definitely cost you your career. It’s a mistake I made, and I hope guys can learn from my situation and not do it.”

Horton has played in eight games this year with two starts. The third-year player has seven tackles and one sack this season.

He re-joins a defensive line that did not generate a sack last week against the Giants for the first time in more than a year, and only the fourth time under defensive coordinator Sean McDermott.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Panthers DE Wes Horton, back from 4-game suspension, owns his ‘mistake’."