For the second time in his brief NFL career, running back Chris Rainey has been cut for off-field reasons.
Rainey was cut by the Colts today for violating team rules, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star adds that the release is conduct related and that head coach Chuck Pagano plans to provide more details.
What’s clear is that the decision was not about Rainey’s performance on the football field at training camp, which is consistent with what Pagano has been saying about Rainey: Pagano raved over the weekend about how much he likes Rainey, and when running back Vick Ballard was lost for the season with a knee injury, it appeared that Rainey would play an important role on the team as a backup running back as well as a kick returner.
Instead, Rainey has been released for something he did off the field. We don’t know exactly what that “something” was, but we do know that this has happened to Rainey before: The Steelers cut him shortly after his rookie year ended following an arrest on a charge of battery against his girlfriend. Now that Rainey has blown his second chance with the Colts, he’ll have to hope some team is willing to give him a third chance.