Assuming he stays compliant with the league’s substance abuse policy, Raiders linebacker Aldon Smith will be reinstated to the NFL in March, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Sunday.
Smith has missed the last 23 Raiders game since he was suspended from the NFL on Nov. 17, 2015. Smith was dealt a Stage Three banishment from the league for multiple violations of its substance abuse policy. He was eligible to be reinstated in November, but the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell declined to do so.
Smith had re-applied for reinstatement from his league-issued banishment and, provided he doesn’t have a slip up in the drug program, he’ll join the Raiders in March.