If NFL drug tests are random, why did Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell have to take one on 4/20?

If NFL drug tests are random, why did Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell have to take one on 4/20?

April 20, 2016 1:27 PM PT

Two years ago, Le’Veon Bell was arrested for possession of marijuana and DUI.

Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers running back served a two-game suspension for the same incident.

And on Wednesday, Bell was selected by the NFL to take a random drug test, on the first day of the year that the league is allowed to do so.

The timing of the test — particularly that it happens to fall on April 20, a.k.a. 4/20, which is more or less a national holiday for stoners — kind of makes you wonder just how random those random drug tests are.

At least it made Bell wonder.

Of course, Bell was just joking, as he clarified to one concerned fan.

Bell was a Pro Bowler in 2014 after rushing for 1,361 yards with eight touchdowns and adding 854 yards and three touchdowns receiving. After serving his suspension last season, Bell played in just six games before tearing the medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee to end his season.

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Chuck Schilken

Chuck Schilken is a sports reporter on the Fast Break team. He spent more than 18 years with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports Department in a variety of roles. Before joining The Times, he worked for more than a decade as a sports reporter and editor at newspapers in Virginia and Maryland.