Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller attempted to use the help of a urine collector to avoid a positive drug test, according to an ESPN report.

That helps explain why Miller is currently serving a six-game suspension rather than the standard four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

Sources said Miller faced a suspension of up to a year after the NFL, the NFL Players Association and Miller's representatives became aware that he had worked with a collector in an attempt to avoid a positive test.

Miller spends time in Miami during the offseason, where the collector reportedly works and became "star struck" after getting to know the player.

Sources told ESPN the plan might have worked had a second collector not discovered that Miller was not in the city where his test was supposed to have taken place.

A source told ESPN that no money is believed to have changed hands, and the collector involved in the case has been dismissed.

(China Daily 09/24/2013 page22)