Did Sheldon Richardson Just Become The Dumbest Defensive Lineman In New York?

NY Post- Sheldon Richardson stood before reporters Thursday and proclaimed, “I’m not a dope fiend.” Clearly, he’s just a dope.

The Jets defensive lineman was charged Thursday in Missouri with resisting arrest and a variety of traffic violations for a July 14 incident that involved him going 143 mph, trying to avoid police and eventually getting caught with a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his car, which reeked like marijuana, according to police. A 12-year-old and two other adult males were in the car.

Richardson hid this arrest from the Jets, who did not learn of it until the media reported it Thursday.

This comes on the heels of a four-game suspension from the NFL for failing a test for marijuana. Only repeat offenders of the league’s drug policy draw a suspension, so this was not the first time he flunked a test.

On the first day of training camp, Richardson stole the headlines for his stupidity. The immensely gifted Pro Bowl defender now could face a lengthy suspension from the NFL for violating its code of conduct.



JPP, you can come out from whatever van of fireworks you are hiding inside, Sheldon Richardson just reduced you to back page news. That's got to be the best part about playing in New York right? Sure, the media scrutiny is exponentially worse in comparison to other areas of the country, but you always have an entirely different roster that you can depend on to take the attention away from you. Especially when that other roster has 'Jets' scripted across the side of their helmets. When that's the case the spotlight being stolen is more of a certainty than a mere possibility. We can debate whether Jason Pierre-Paul damn near blowing his hand off with a firework is dumber than Sheldon Richardson getting pulled over going 143 MPH with a gun, drugs, and a child in the car, but to me it comes down to quantity versus quality. I think the JPP story gets the nod when we are talking about quality, but Sheldon Richardson takes the cake in terms of quantity of stupidity. JPP just had one split second of retardation while Richardson made like seven incomprehensibly terrible decisions over the course of a night.

Is playing for the Jets THAT bad? I'm confused, because I don't think you do all the things that Sheldon Richardson did unless you want to face more supplementary discipline from the league even after your substance abuse suspension. Richardson was like, "4 games, that means I got to play 12? Nah, way too much". Think about it. You may get let off with a slap on the wrist for driving 143 MPH while street racing. You may get let off for getting pulled over reeking of weed. You may get let off for having one semi-automatic gun in the car. But to do all those things simultaneously, WITH a child in the car is going to get you booked every single time. Especially when you are 300 pound bearded black man in, what I can only imagine, was a vehicle that costs six figures. Not exactly the definition of subtlety my dude. This is as close to an NFL player can come to turning himself in.  He may be dumb enough to do all those things, but he can't possibly be dumb enough to think he was going to get away with doing all those things? You don'ts flashing lights in the rearview and act surprised when you are going 143 MPH. All this story is missing is him driving right through the doors of a police station. Maybe I am giving too much credit. Maybe he does have an interest in playing football in New York this season. However, much like JPP, he's going about it the stupidest way possible.