DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Seahawks to Sign Mychal Kendricks

Seahawks set to sign linebacker facing up to 25 years in prison for insider trading

Mychal Kendricks signed with the Browns in June, only to be released after he was charged with insider trading. (AP Photo)
By Des Bieler
September 14 at 1:47 AM
Mychal Kendricks could be facing a very long term in federal prison. The Seahawks, however, are in short-term need of help at linebacker, so they reportedly are set to sign him.

Kendricks, as first reported Thursday by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, is even expected to play for Seattle on Monday, when the team travels to Chicago to take on the Bears in prime time. Meanwhile, the seven-year NFL veteran is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to insider trading.

“I know that I made the decision to accept information, secret information, and it wasn’t the right thing to do,” Kendricks, 27, said last week in a federal courthouse in Philadelphia. He helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl last season, then signed with the Browns in the offseason, only to be released by Cleveland late last month, after he was charged.

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The Seahawks have a need at linebacker. K.J. Wright has been out since undergoing minor knee surgery last month and Bobby Wagner (groin) was placed on the injury report Thursday. In Wright’s absence, rookie Shaquem Griffin, who gained notice for excelling in college despite having had his left hand amputated during childhood, struggled to make a Week 1 impact while splitting time with Austin Calitro.

Kendricks reportedly could face up to 25 years in prison but is likely to receive a significantly shorter term, in part because of his guilty plea. Although he is not scheduled to be sentenced until January, he could be suspended by the NFL before then.

“The matter is under review,” an NFL spokesman said of Kendricks (via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport). “He is currently permitted to sign and participate in activities including games.”


Before making his plea, Kendricks admitted to participating in a scheme with a Harvard-educated friend who had worked as a Wall Street investment banker before becoming a writer for TV shows such as “Black-ish” and “The Simpsons.” The friend, Damilare Sonoiki, was alleged to have accepted $10,000 in cash as well as other perks from Kendricks, including Eagles tickets and access to exclusive social events, in exchange for nonpublic information related to planned mergers and acquisitions.

Kendricks used the information to make $1.2 million in illegal profits on four major trading deals between 2013 and 2015. “I invested money with a former friend of mine who I thought I could trust and who I greatly admired,” he said in an August statement. “His background as a Harvard graduate and an employee of Goldman Sachs gave me a false sense of confidence.”

In releasing Kendricks, the Browns said in a statement that when they signed him to a one-year deal worth up to $3.5 million in June, they knew he was involved with a federal investigation but believed he was no more than a victim. Once presented with “a different set of facts,” they parted ways with the linebacker, who had made an appearance with the Browns on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”


Sonoiki is also expected to plead guilty in the case, when his court date is set.

A second-round pick by the Eagles in 2012 out of Cal-Berkeley, Kendricks played in 85 regular season games over six years in Philadelphia, making 74 starts with 454 tackles, five fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He had a team-high eight tackles in January’s NFC championship game win over the Vikings, and he added four tackles in the Super Bowl win over the Patriots.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/earl...m=.3ff06ca65839

Update:

Kendricks sentencing has been moved to January 24, 2019. So he can play the whole season. Seattle did sign him to a 1 year contract.

we shoulda kept him, and I thought that when we cut him.

The NFL has got to suspend him before that, no? I mean if they would immediately suspend Gordon go smoking marijuana it stands to reason that pleading guilty should be followed by a suspension. I guess keeping him didn’t make sense because unless we are a serious threat to go deep into the playoffs this year, what’s the point of keeping him? It seems the potential penalty for this is significantly more than what Pederson or Rice could have received, if charged. I find that concerning.

Probably the only reason he had not been suspended was because he was not under contract. The Browns cut him pretty quickly after the news went public. I suspect he will not play Monday night ...

yeah, we'll see what happens. It'd be crap if he can play immediately.

That is not even close to a factual statement.

How is it not factual? If Gordon failed a drug test this morning, would we not see some action out of the NFL? I believe they would act fairly quickly.

This is not a good look for the league. This guy has already pled guilty, has not served any time, and will be playing games on Sunday.

I don't think the league, Seattle and certainly not Kendricks even care. The NFL is "reviewing" the situation, but they already admitted Kendricks is really of no trouble until after the appeal:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/09/14/mychal-kendricks-situation-under-review-by-the-nfl/

Agreed...he could of really helped, plus he only inked a one year deal with us, so he would have been a FA prior to any judgement and or sentencing.

It was insider trading dude ... thats about 150 steps up from why these dudes are getting in trouble ...

I feel like there's something amiss here. We cut bait really quick after he pled guilty. Especially once you consider the how Dorsey has already established a track record of taking chances on guys with character/discipline issues. This team is not going to be composed entirely of choir boys, of that much we can be sure.

If he's gonna be allowed to play out the season, I'm pissed that it's not for us. He improves our LB corps, and he was ours.

I just find the entire thing quite confusing. He has plead guilty to a felony so why is he even allowed to suit up in the NFL?

+1 ...

Dorsey could care less about CHARACTER ... could care less ...

As far as those saying “he lied” to us ... gimme a break ... what Calloway did was just as bad if not worse ... got in trouble for hitting a women .. NO BIGGIE ... but please don’t lie to us ... single or multiple DWI’s .. NO BIGGIE ... come on down ... its OK to drink and drive just PLEASE DON’T LIE TO US ..

John won’t tolerate LIARS .... I get that .. i certainly wouldn’t .. but when just about anything else goes in what world does that make sense? ...

in what world is lying about insider trading worse than a DWI or worse than hitting a women or even worse than rolling the dice on a druggie like Calloway ...

Only thing i can think of is that insider trading hits to close to home with OUR THIEF of an owner .. *LOL* ...

This makes zero sense to me ... ZERO ...

GM ... CAN U HELP MAKE SENSE OF THIS ... ...

This dude is a PROVEN BALLER ... i dont get it ... STUPID MATH ... it just don’t add up here ...

My only logical guess: Maybe Haslam gave an edict to get rid of him? Just because of the FBI angle?

We were told that he was cut because he lied to the team about the charges. I believe he said he was in clear when the team signed him. Lying was the problem, not the charges.

It's my understanding, based on what Dorsey said, that he misrepresented himself as being a victim in things (that's the lie).

Once the charges came down, it was clear he lied.
We'll miss his talent, but I still support releasing him.

That's right. He should have just not told them anything and then he would still be on the team playing every snap.

Got it ...

Lying is worse than hitting women, driving drunk, being a druggie and not paying child support ...

...

I don't think we have anyone accused of hitting women on the team (although there were allegations against Jarvis Landry for a brief second and a video), but Antonio Callaway has been accused of sexual assault (he was cleared by the University of Florida).

I think our only drunk driver is Josh Gordon.

As far as druggies, that's probably 90% of the guys on the team (if you consider people who smoke pot "druggies"), but Gordon, Callaway, Desmond Harrison, and Jabrill Peppers all have tangible evidence of drug use.

You have to understand, insider trading, while illegal and unethical, isn't nearly as terrible as using marijuana...

White collar crime is small potatoes compared to smoking reefers....Reefers were put on earth by the devil and any person who knowingly puts that evil stuff in their body---well, they are awful people destined to be damned to hell for all of eternity.

Cheating the system to make huge profits off the market....that's just, like, smart business...how can you compare savvy investment with devil weed....you just can't....

the devil's lettuce!!

You forgot not paying child support for his two kids. The drive by shootings. The association w/known felons. Etc.

but .. but .. but .. Insider trading is a felony and he entered a plea of guilty.. that makes him a FELON. If you get 3 games for a misdemeanor marijuana possession .. surely you have to get more time off for a felony... ( I know .. I know .. "Don't call you Shirley ..." grins )

And I'm fine with that being the reason. I'm sure Calloway took notice.

I am with the reasoning too. I can be fine with the reason he got cut and also wish he was on our team still.

Of course.

The NFL is behaving - disingenuously, IMO - as if because its a nonviolent felony, there are no victims. Rog' and the billionaires' club of owners probably do this kind of thing all the time.

Bingo. This is not a real crime to them because they all have buddies who participate in similar activities.

Maybe Kendricks can get Goodell to have a word with the Judge passing sentence on him, maybe get it reduced from 25 years to 6-7.

Lying about catching a Federal felony? Yeah. It is.

This isn’t Dorsey’s first go around ... see Tyreek Hill ... see crap ... about a dozen guys he’s drafted or aquired ...

Just look at the list f UDFA we brought in after the draft ... the first 4 or 5 all had incidents with the cops mentioned ... EVERYONE OF THEM ...

Dude could give TWO CRAPS ABOUT CHARACTER ... until now?? ...

Pfffffft ...

Just like the thief ... when we win ... i will be thrilled for my fellow dawgs like U and all of us ... i will actually be bummed we had to share it with a POS like the thief and Dorsey ... and my feeling s about Dorsey have NOTHING to do with this BS ... not a fan of people that could care less about CHARACTER and whose only concern is if they can help u win football games ...

U want to defend guys like that ... BE MY GUEST ... i also don’t live my life in a fish bowl .. what he did before he came here DOES MATTER to me .. u want to sweep it under the rug .. thats your call ...

CUTTING KENDRICKS HURT THIS FOOTBALL TEAM ... and thats all thats EVER MATTERED TO DORSEY til now ...

U guys can have the last word ... i’m out ...

...

Guess HOW U DECIEVE US matters ... dude got pulled over and cited for having weed in his car and DON’T BOTHER TELLING US ... thats OK I guess cause he didn’t LIE TO KING JOHN ...

This DUDES A REAL BUET ... and weed was definelty good for him ... being to stoned to rape someone is definetly a POSITIVE ... ...

Calloway has had issues off the field, though. He faced a sexual assault trial between his freshman and sophomore year but was cleared of those charges before the 2016 season by admitting during the hearing he was "so stoned" he did not want to have sex with anyone. He was also cited for marijuana possession in May 2017 as a passenger in a car stopped because the driver wasn't wearing his seat belt; he pled no contest to possession of paraphernalia in July 2017. Calloway never played in 2017 because of his involvement in a credit card fraud scheme with other teammates. Instead of looking for reinstatement or a transfer, he decided to declare for the 2018 NFL Draft.

Now i’m out ... *L* ..

Diam: You are spending a lot of time putting up posts. With all the rain headed your way, I trust that you remembered to caulk that Ark you built...

Kendricks basically lied in a job interview of his involvement in a federal crime. Calloway didn’t disclose to the team a misdemeanor traffic stop after he was employed. You don’t see the difference?

Gordon lied to the Browns. Calloway did, too. Not sure why Kendricks was released. I think it is because it hits to close to home to Haslam's crime.

When did Calloway lie? Not disclosing something is not a lie. Unethical yes.
If you owned a buisiness, and you discovered someone you just hired blatantly lied to your face about something this serious in an interview,would you keep them around?

So, you think we should cut Josh Gordon?

I don't. I don't think we should have cut Galloway or Kendricks, either.

No. They knew what they where getting into when they drafted those two.

But Kendricks lies to their face about his involvement in a federal crime. I wish he was still on the team, as I think he is a quality LB. But IMO, you have to draw the line somewhere.