Report: Mychal Kendricks has been suspended by NFL, but will play while awaiting appeal

One of the more unexpected stories of the NFL preseason was then-Cleveland Browns linebacker Mychal Kendricks being charged with insider trading by federal authorities.

The Browns released Kendricks, but he wasn’t a free agent for long, signed by the Seattle Seahawks.

One of the questions after the Seahawks signed Kendricks was how long the team would have him, given that he plead guilty to charges.

We now have at least part of that answer.

Suspension handed down, but Kendricks appealing

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday morning that Kendricks has already met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and received a suspension, but that Kendricks is appealing that decision.

Schefter didn’t specify details on Kendricks’ punishment.

Kendricks is allowed to play while his case is under appeal; his hearing with a league arbitrator will happen within the next 10 days or so.

The 27-year-old is expected to play on Monday night as Seattle plays the Bears at Soldier Field.

Situation is strange one for NFL

Schefter writes that the league has “unintentionally found itself in a awkward situation” with the Kendricks case: the player was involved in a white-collar crime, pleaded guilty to insider trading, made immediate restitution, and has no prior criminal record.

Before the Browns released him, the NFL was apparently strongly considering placing Kendricks on the commissioner’s exempt list last month, which would have meant him sitting out with pay; the league used the exempt list in the past with Adrian Peterson in 2014 during his child abuse case, and the same year with Greg Hardy.

Kendricks is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24; based on federal guidelines, he’s facing 30 to 37 months in prison.

‘We have to respect the process’

In justifying his team’s signing of Kendricks, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said his team did its due diligence.

“We had done a lot of homework on it,” Carroll said. “It happened four and a half years ago, so it’s a story that’s been worked on for a long time. There’s a lot of good information. We’ve come to learn who he is and what he’s all about and how remorseful he was and how he admitted to his mistake a long time ago.”

Carroll added that Seattle had spoken with the league about Kendricks, but “there’s nothing that we can really report on it. We have to respect the process right now and just wait it out.”

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