Indianapolis Colts Could Try to Void Trent Richardson's Contract After Suspending Him

The Indianapolis Colts have the option of voiding Trent Richardson’s 2015 contract, according to ESPN, after suspending him for two games for conduct detrimental prior to the AFC Championship Game.

Just so we are clear, the “conduct detrimental” from a factual standpoint was averaging about 3 yards a carry for two years, then getting phased out and de-activated to the point that he has no future with the team. The issue will be whether Indianapolis has a legitimate reason for imposing the suspension, that holds muster.

Richardson–who was inactive against Denver–did miss the walkthrough before the team left for New England. According to this, he was out while at a hospital with a family emergency. There was even a since-debunked internet rumor that his mother had died (former Alabama teammate Dre Kirkpatrick tweeted about it being false here).

GM Ryan Grigson said the suspension was for personal reasons and wouldn’t go into it. If he really was suspended after being previously deactivated AND if there was a real family emergency, well, it wouldn’t surprise me. It might come down to whether the family emergency thing is real. It also would be a pretty strong challenge if the Colts have made similar allowances for other players in the past without suspension. It will look like what we might call a pre-textual reason to impose a suspension to save money and having to deal with Richardson’s contract.