Rival Report 6/30: NFL goes easy on Sheldon Richardson with 1 game suspension

In 2015, Sheldon Richardson was arrested for numerous charges when he was caught driving as fast as 143 miles per hour in a drag race. That was the least of the incident though, as he also had a 12 year old child and a gun with him during the incident and the car reeked of marijuana. Oh yeah, and he didn't pull over. He instead turned off his headlights while running a red light before trying to sneak into a driveway.

In January, Richardson was able to reduce his charges to simply resisting arrest along with 4 traffic violations that amounted to only a $1,050 fine. He was placed on a 2 year probation and ordered 100 hours of community service. The charge also is only considered a misdemeanor and will be expunged from his record if he completes his 2 year probation without issue.

That was being seriously let off the hook by the court system. A non-NFL superstar/multi-millionaire would have been looking at serious jail time for reckless endangerment of a child and leading police on a high speed chase. Now Richardson is also being slapped on the wrist by the NFL with a 1-game suspension for his violation.

This is yet another example of the stunning inconsistency with NFL punishments. It is inexplicable to me to think that Josh Gordon has served so much time for his suspensions for pot and alcohol while a player drag racing with a kid in the car and running from police only gets a 1 game suspension.

The inconsistencies here are mind boggling, and it honestly seems like the NFL is just trying to avoid another Tom Brady court mess. There are not many precedents for situations like what Richardson put himself in so instead of setting one the NFL is looking the other way. The funniest part is that the NFL wonders why nobody trusts them anymore.

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NFL suspends the Jets' Sheldon Richardson for 2016 season opener - CBSSports.com
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