Jeremy Lane pleads guilty to being bad

On the same day that the Seattle Seahawks released cornerback Richard Sherman, the team also released corner back Jeremy Lane. Two years into the four year contract Lane signed in 2016 and coming off a season in which he returned from the gruesome injuries which he suffered in Super Bowl XLIX, Lane capitalized on a hot market for defensive backs, but never lived up to the price tag the contract carried. By the middle of the 2017 season he had lost his starting roles, first to Shaquill Griffin on the outside and then to Justin Coleman in the nickel.

Lane’s release earlier this month came as no surprise, as he carried a hefty 2018 cap charge of $7.25M, and his arrest in January on suspicion of DUI likely slammed the door shut on any hopes Seattle might have been able to trade him. In court on Monday Lane was able to resolve the case by agreeing to a deal in which he plead guilty to reckless driving in exchange for the DUI case being dropped.

Lane himself weighed in on Twitter acknowledging the plea.

As Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports, Lane is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4, and at that time will know more about what he will need to do to finalize things. In addition, this largely closes things out for the NFL in terms of what it needs to see before a determination can be made about any potential suspension. That is significant for Lane, as no team is likely to get deep into any kind of contract discussions without first knowing what kind of punishment is likely coming from the league.

As we looked at back in January, as a result of Lane allegedly admitting during the traffic stop that he had smoked marijuana in the hours prior could result in the league handing down a four game suspension rather than the typical two game suspension for an alcohol related incident.

There is no telling when the league will provide an answer on any impending suspension for Lane, but when they do we’ll be here to pass the update along.