Sheldon Richardson has one regret about the controversial profanity-laced Snapchat video he released hours before the Jets’ ugly loss to the Dolphins Saturday night.
That, using teammate Rontez Miles’s account, it was sent out to Miles’ followers, not as a direct message to a personal friend of theirs as intended. Otherwise, the troubled defensive lineman doesn’t feel he did anything wrong.
“Do I regret it? It getting out, that’s about it, really,” the 26-year-old former first round pick said Tuesday following practice. “I don’t regret saying it. It was having fun with a friend.”
The Jets feel differently, disciplining Richardson for using foul language in the video. Teammate Brandon Marshall said it was “unacceptable” and believes the negative backlash to it was “valid.”
“We make mistakes, and he’ll learn from that,” Marshall said.
There is a league-wide ban of social media posts 90 minutes before games, which Richardson didn’t break, he said. Coach Todd Bowles, Richardson and Miles declined to say what the discipline was, but it doesn’t seem like it will affect Richardson’s playing time over the final two weeks of the forgettable season. Bowles said the punishment has already been doled out.
“I’m in the game plan,” Richardson said, “so it doesn’t seem like it.”
It remains unclear exactly what Richardson said in the video. It starts with him saying, “Where the hoes at?” He then says something that could be “Don’t f—k this guy,” referring to Miles. Others interpreted it as “F—k this game,” which would call into question his desire and commitment to the Jets.
Richardson declined to clarify what he said exactly.
“It’s irrelevant. It’s a video out, you make your own opinions on it,” he said. “If it’s a joke, then why does it matter? … I don’t care who judges me. It’s not for them.”
Richardson feels his play, while inconsistent in producing just 1.5 sacks this season, should be enough to prove how much he cares. After all, Richardson was rated the best Jets defensive player in Saturday’s loss by Pro Football Focus.
“If they watch the game, they know I didn’t play like [I don’t care]. I care about every game I play in, every down I get, and that’s pretty much it,” Richardson said. “Everybody knows my heart. I play hard no matter win, lose or draw.”
Miles said he and Richardson often post on each other’s Snapchat, and it caught both by surprise when they woke up Sunday morning and saw it was public. It did result in Miles adding more followers.
“More than I want,” Miles joked.
Of course, this was not the first such issue with the talented Richardson.
He was benched against Miami last month for being late to meetings repeatedly. He was suspended for the first game of this season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy in a highly publicized speeding incident. Richardson had a child in the car, which police said smelled like marijuana, and a registered gun under his seat. This came after he was suspended the first four games of the 2015 season for violating the league’s drug policy.
Richardson said Bowles was both disappointed and angry, because of the distraction it has created.
“He knows me. He knows I don’t mean no harm by what I was doing,” Richardson said. “I would never say that publicly [on purpose]. To let everybody know, I play around and stuff like. He said, ‘You’re relaxed. In that situation, you have to be careful. Be more mindful.’
“He’s tired of repeating himself.”
Though Bowles has described it as a “social media gaffe” that the Jets “don’t condone,” he spent most of his Tuesday press conference trying to play down the mistake, saying it isn’t nearly as bad as the earlier issues with Richardson.
“It’s not a recurring thing. Again, we don’t condone what he did, [but] he didn’t go out and rob a bank. He didn’t shoot anybody,” Bowles said. “He said two foul words on Snapchat. … He didn’t go out and jump off a bridge, push nobody off a building. It’s not something that popped up. It’s a [social] media gaffe. We moved on.”