The league confirmed Monday that Rhett Loomis has been suspended seven games under the integrity policy, the longest active ban on the books this season. The office's release said Loomis passed along next week's practice-squad injury designations -- which banged-up starters were realistically going to play -- to an acquaintance with ties to betting circles, more than once, before the information became public.
It isn't the tip that the policy exists to punish so much as the timing. An inactive list is background noise to everyone except the person who has it a week early, and the league's position is that Loomis turned himself into that person on purpose.
The strange part, to the Roughnecks, is who did it. Loomis has been the steadying hand in that quarterback room for six years -- the guy who takes the rookie to dinner and gives reporters nothing worth printing. "He's about the most boring guy in this building, in the best way," one teammate said. "That's what makes it stranger."
Head coach Max Power called it "a gut punch we didn't see coming from that guy specifically" and said the locker room found out with everyone else.
Loomis is eligible to return in Week 9. Whether the Roughnecks season is still shaped like anything by then is the other story.