The Washington Redskins made the playoffs in 2015, which was pretty off-brand for a team known for dysfunction, so naturally they had to do something ridiculous to remind us who they are.
According to TMZ, Washington accidentally paid a practice squad player a stray $40,000 more than two years ago and are now suing to get it back. The player is former linebacker H.B. Blades, who recorded 139 tackles for the Redskins between 2007 and 2010 and now refuses to repay the extra money the team gave him due to a “clerical error.”
From TMZ:
The team says it officially cut ties with Blades in 2012 and gave him a $40,000 severance check for his troubles.
The problem … they “mistakenly paid an additional $40,000 to Blades on Dec. 27, 2013 as a result of a clerical error.”
It’s pretty hard to blame Blades here. If your employer, particularly one who just laid you off, gives you some money you don’t strictly deserve, you can’t really be faulted for holding on to it. Blades made about $2.5 million during his football career, which is certainly a nice sum but not necessarily an amount that will last you years after you’re done playing. He probably put the 40K to good use.
The Redskins, of course, could have avoided this ridiculous situation by not paying out the same severance package twice. Now they sort of look like jerks for chasing $40,000 that ultimately, to a pro football team, does not mean too much. The team filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court, according to TMZ, so we’ll soon find whether Blades is entitled to the money he got by mistake.
