Pete Carroll: ‘Peace of mind’ for Mychal Kendricks after his sentencing is postponed again
Mychal Kendricks is in the clear from his legal issues. For the rest of this Seahawks season, anyway.
Seattle’s starting outside linebacker had his sentencing hearing for insider trading postponed for the fifth time by a federal court in eastern Pennsylvania. It was supposed to be Thursday, three days before the Seahawks play at Philadelphia against Kendricks’ former Eagles.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll on Monday confirmed Kendricks’ hearing was postponed again. The new date is now in February, after this season and Super Bowl.
“Yes. I’m really happy for him that he has that peace of mind as he works through the season,” Carroll said following Seattle’s return from its bye week with a short, indoor practice.
“There’s nothing done, and I have no statement about any of it or what it means.
“I know just for him it gives him the peace of mind for this football season and he can really stay focused.”
The original date for Kendricks’ sentencing was January. That was four months after the Seahawks signed him to a free-agent contract in September 2018, not knowing for certain his legal and playing future.
Without explanation, the court set a second sentencing date for late April of this year. In the meantime, the Seahawks re-signed Kendricks in March to a one-year contract.
He and the re-signed duo of Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright have been on the field the majority of the time this season as Seattle has used base, 4-3 alignments far more than the nickel that it used 70 percent of downs the last couple of years.
Kendricks and Wright flanking the All-Pro Wagner give the Seahawks three Super Bowl starters at linebacker. It’s their best corps in the Carroll coaching era in Seattle that began in 2010.
Sentencing guidelines in federal court in the eastern Pennsylvania suggest 2 1/2 years for Kendricks’ crime. But many there believe he will get far less than that, if not strike a plea bargain with prosecutors, and that the repeated postponements signal the sentencing may not involve any time in prison.
A co-defendant in the case with Kendricks, Damilare Sonoiki, reportedly was sentenced to three years probation.
The U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania charged that Kendricks and a bank analyst conspired in a scheme from the summer of 2014 to spring of 2015. The alleged plot gave Kendricks non-public securities information on future investment-bank mergers. It allegedly netted him $1.2 million.
Kendricks admitted in the summer of 2018 in a statement he released through his then-Cleveland Browns that he participated in the scheme. The Browns subsequently released him. Kendricks did not play a regular-season game for them.
The Seahawks signed the former Super Bowl starter for the Eagles the following month, on Sept. 14, 2018. That was weeks after Wright had knee surgery. It was also one game after rookie Shaquem Griffin struggled as Wright’s’ fill-in at weakside linebacker in 2018’s opening loss at Denver.
While Wright’s knee issue lingered into November, Kendricks played in four games for Seattle last season. His first of three starts for the Seahawks came in week three against Dallas. He said he was “blessed” to be playing football again.
He would have started 10 of the 11 games Wright missed in 2018, but Kendricks served an eight-game NFL suspension for the insider trading from the beginning of October into December. Upon his return, he injured his knee and leg starting a game against Minnesota. That put him on injured reserve and required surgery.
Healthy again, Kendricks has been a mainstay this season in Seattle’s iffy defense. He’s started all 10 games. Playing more coverage as the Seahawks have stayed in base 4-3 on passing downs, Kendricks got his first interception in six years last month in the win at Atlanta.
Now, he doesn’t have a legal requirement for the rest of this season.
“He’s done a marvelous job, under the circumstances,” Carroll said.
“And I’m real happy for him.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 8:02 PM.
