Linebacker Mychal Kendricks will play in the NFL again after he was busted for insider trading earlier this year.
Kendricks has finished the eight-game suspension handed down to him by the league and is expected to play for the Seattle Seahawks against the Minnesota Vikings on “Monday Night Football.”
Kendricks pleaded guilty to a count of securities fraud and a count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud earlier this year. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
“This is my escape,” Kendricks told reporters. “Football is everything for me, and to have lost that also was very hard. That also was probably the hardest thing, having to walk away from the game that I love, from a team that has accepted me. Just wanting to be here and not being able to hurt.”
Kendricks was originally set to play for the Cleveland Browns in 2018 after six seasons in Philadelphia, but the Browns released him in August upon news of the insider trading scandal. Monday won’t be Kendricks’ Seahawks debut; he managed to play in three games in September before the NFL figured out a suspension for him.
Seattle is in the thick of the NFC playoff race and could have games in January. Kendricks will be sentenced in January, so he could be torn away from the Seahawks at the most crucial time of the year.
Kendricks called the day of his sentencing “inevitable” and said he will focus on the present.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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