Colts Should Pass on Re-Signing Ahmad Bradshaw

The Indianapolis Colts have a lot of decisions ahead of them on who to re-sign. One of those tough decisions swirled around running back Ahmad Bradshaw.

Today, we learned that Bradshaw was arrested for possession of marijuana.

When he’s been healthy, Bradshaw has been excellent the past two seasons. His ability as a ball carrier and pass catcher have never been in question, its always been his health.

Luckily the Colts don’t have to make a tough decision on whether or not to cut Bradshaw, they can simply not offer him a new contract.

While Bradshaw has been a good player, he hasn’t even come close to finishing a full season for the Colts and the team needs to clean out the bad apples from the locker room. He also isn’t a game changing running back and the Colts can easily find someone to replace his production.

Now we have concerns about his character. For me, this makes the decision to re-sign Bradshaw a bit easier for Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano.

While the NFL is lessening the punishment for failed drug tests (one of which Bradshaw is sure to take soon), this incident goes along with an arrest.

Yes, there are plenty of states where pot is practically legal and a few where it is, but Indiana isn’t one of those states and neither is Ohio (where Bradshaw was arrested, though it is decriminalized there).

Failing a drug test is one thing, but having an arrest record is something else entirely. It makes the organization look even worse than it already does.

There is a cultural problem in the Colts locker room right now as we’ve seen four players arrested in 2015 for various charges.

The Colts have already cut one player for a DUI, Andrew Jackson, and another for missing the AFC Championship game, Xavier Nixon. The Colts still have to pass judgment on D’Qwell Jackson for his assault charges and Josh McNary who was arrested on rape charges (although McNary is currently on the Commissioner’s Exempt List).

We also saw the team owner serve out a lengthy suspension after being arrested on drug charges last spring. Not to mention the two players who were suspended this season for PED use (Robert Mathis and LaRon Landry).

While the goal of every team is to get better in the offseason, the Colts also need to focus maintaining the good culture they’ve develop over the past 20 years. This isn’t a franchise that has been synonymous with arrest records.

The Colts have been a team that routinely wrote of players in the draft and free agency due to character issues.

Now the team leads the NFL in arrests this year (and were less than two months in) and has been to catalyst for the biggest cheating scandal in years. Right now, the Colts are not looked up favorably in the league.

Cutting two players was a good start. Now they should double down on cleaning house and not reward players who get arrested by skipping re-signing Bradshaw.