Off-Field Notes: Bradshaw, Fairley, Hardy

Impending free agent Ahmad Bradshaw‘s road back to the field now includes more than just another injury rehabilitation after the veteran running back was cited for marijuana possession Feb. 5 in Ohio, WDTN in Dayton reports.

Also cited for following too close on Westbound I-70, Bradshaw could be subject to the NFL’s personal conduct policy. While with the Colts last year, 29-year-old was one of the league’s best all-around backs in 2014 on a per-touch basis, averaging 4.7 yards per carry and 7.9 yards per catch en route to an eight-touchdown year — his most since 2011 with the Giants. Bradshaw graded as Pro Football Focus’ 11th-best back (subscription required) despite missing more than five games due to the season-ending fractured fibula he suffered against the Patriots in November.

The multipurpose ball-carrier also missed most of the 2013 campaign — his first with the Colts — with a season-ending neck injury. Since playing in at least 15 games in his first three seasons, Bradshaw has missed at least four during the past four slates.

Coupled with his most recent brush with the law — of which there were more during his college days, issues that resulted him spending time in jail while with the Giants — Bradshaw entering his age-29 season will not make him a high commodity on a running back market that also includes younger performers DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews and C.J. Spiller.

  • Nick Fairley, on the other hand, can enter his free agent year relatively free of distractions after being found not guilty for driving under the influence, WKRG’s Jacqueline Quynh tweeted. The jury did find Fairley guilty of reckless driving, however. A former Lions first-round pick in 2011, the 27-year-old Fairley is a free agent after Detroit did not pick up his fifth-year option. After posting a top-20 season for defensive tackles, per PFF (subscription required), Fairley should be a reasonably coveted commodity in March, especially now that his chances of missing the first two games on a personal conduct-related issue are slimmer — but not out of the question.
  • Even though Greg Hardy‘s domestic violence case was dismissed earlier this week, the NFL seeks his court file, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The free agent defensive end ,who drew the franchise tag from the Panthers last offseason before the incident forced him off the field for almost all of 2014, can still be suspended. The former Pro Bowler, however, is now a free agent with a clearer future than he had entering this month.
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