NFL Issues 1 Game Suspension to NY Jets Sheldon Richardson

It has been announced that New Jersey Jets defensive end, Sheldon Richardson, will be suspended for the first game of the regular season against the Cincinnati Bengals due to violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension is a result from a high-speed road race last July in Missouri when police said the Richardson was driving 143 miles per hour.

Considering that this incident also included a 12-year-old child and a gun in the car, the suspension could have been worse. Richardson also has a history of marijuana use so the one game suspension is something that the Jets should be happy about because it could have been worse than one game.

Richardson will be eligible in all preseason workouts and preseason games. He will then be put on the active roster for the second game of the season against the Bills which will be played in Buffalo.

Back in January, Richardson took a plea deal which allowed him to avoid jail time, however he did receive two years of bench probation, 100 hours of community service, and over $1,000 in fines.

As great of a player as he is, Richardson has had difficulty staying out of trouble in his career. Richardson was drafted 13^th overall by the Jets in the 2013 draft and he will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 season.

This just gives more ammunition to the “give Muhammad Wilkerson a long term deal” club. Wilkerson is the perfect player to build your defense around because of his talent on the field and his actions off the field. The Jets have already lost Damon Harrison and I can’t imagine that they would resign Richardson after all of the off-field shenanigans. As it looks right now, Wilkerson will probably not be with the team in the long run. That means the Jets are just left with Leonard Williams who is coming off an excellent rookie year. But it is quite a step back after what the defensive line was.

Signing a superstar defensive tackle to a long term deal is expensive right now after the Eagles gave a huge contract to Fletcher Cox. It doesn’t look like the Jets will be able to give Wilkerson what he wants and deserves.

Richardson is a great player, but he is not the guy you want long term. Wilkerson is the kind of player you want long term, but it might be too late.

As far as Richardson goes, he needs to stay clean. Since this incident was just about one year ago, it is good to know that he hasn’t gotten into any trouble since last July. Hopefully he can keep that up and keep his mind on football. It’s only one game this time and it could be a lot worse next time.