NFL will begin testing players for HGH

The NFL will begin testing players for HGH on Monday, more than three years after the league and the NFL Players Association initially approved the program as part of the 2011 collective-bargaining agreement. The two sides finally agreed last month to hammer out all remaining points of dispute about the program.

NFLPA president Eric Winston told players in a letter that testing is about to begin.

"Each week of the season, five players on eight teams will be tested," Winston wrote, according to NFL.com. "No testing will occur on game days. We negotiated to ensure that the methodology of testing be conducted in the most professional and safest manner for players. Importantly, after three years of negotiating, players won the right to challenge any aspect of the science behind the HGH isoforms test in an appeal of a positive test."

One of the biggest areas of dispute between the two sides centered on the appeals process. The NFL initially wanted to have commissioner Roger Goodell decide appeals, but the two sides eventually agreed on third-party neutral arbitration if a player decides to appeal a positive test.

Disciplinary measures for all positive PED tests, including HGH, will include up to a six-game suspension for a positive test. The use of diuretics or masking agents will result in a two-game suspension. The use of steroids, stimulants, HGH or other banned substances will result in a four-game suspension. Attempting to manipulate the results of a test will result in a six-game suspension.

A second violation will result in a 10-game suspension. A third violation will result in a minimum two-year ban.

Testing positive for banned substances in the offseason will result in placement in the league's substance-abuse program.