Running back Trent Richardson was just released by the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday. This news is not too surprising considering the way he was phased out of the team’s lineup towards the end of the 2014 season.
According to ESPN’s Mike Wells, the Colts might not have had just cause to suspend Richardson for conduct detrimental to the team. Richardson will likely file a grievance in order to get the $3.1 million in salary that he will be without as a result of being cut by the team.
According to Richardson’s contract, the language states that the Colts were allowed to void his 2015 guaranteed salary should he be suspended. Richardson was marked inactive for the Colts’ playoff game against the Broncos, then he was suspended for the AFC Championship game against the Patriots after skipping a walk-through.
The missed walk-through came because Richardson reportedly had “serious complications with his girlfriend’s pregnancy that could potentially have endangered the life of the child.” (via Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star).
The Colts’ general manager Ryan Grigson noted that Richardson’s suspension was for “personal reasons,” declining to further elaborate.
Richardson claimed in his interview with Wells that arguments over his weight factored into the suspension. He reported that the team continuously fined him for being overweight by just three pounds, which is not cause for voiding his contract.
We had made an agreement where I’d weigh 230 pounds, but it turns out that I was supposed to be 227 pounds and they didn’t tell me that. We’ve got a list of things we can use against the Colts where I can get my money back. They were fining me for failing to meet conduct code. Not making weight is not conduct code.
Teams are allowed to fine players $545 per pound per day if they are overweight. If Richardson was fined 14 times, as he reported to Wells, he would have totaled up almost $23,000 in overweight penalties. More importantly, as Richardson has stated, weight penalties alone would not be cause for Indianapolis to void his contract under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement.
Richardson, a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2012, was traded in 2013 to the Indianapolis Colts for a first-round pick in last year’s draft. Richardson struggled immensely in Indy, managing only 977 rushing yards and six touchdowns over his two seasons.
Remaining positive about where he will play next, the 24-year-old Richardson noted that Marshawn Lynch was doubted after three seasons until he arrived in Seattle.
Whether Richardson actually proceeds in filing the grievance remains to be seen.
Photo: USA Today