Injured CB Chris Culliver released by Washington Redskins
May 2, 2016 - 7:57 PM ASHBURN, Va. (AP) Chris Culliver's time with the Washington Redskins lasted all of six games.Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan told the injured cornerback on Monday that he was being released after the team signed Josh Norman as a free agent and took Kendall Fuller in the third round of the NFL draft.
Culliver signed a four-year deal as a free agent a year ago, but he tore the ACL and MCL ligaments in his right knee during practice on Thanksgiving Day.
''It was just the numbers and what we have going now,'' McCloughan said at a news conference at Redskins Park. ''Norman came out of nowhere.''
The Redskins swooped in to add All-Pro Norman on a four-year deal worth up to $75 million after he was surprisingly let go by the NFC champion Carolina Panthers. The Redskins already had Bashaud Breeland, Will Blackmon, converted wideout Quinton Dunbar and others at cornerback, too, and now added Fuller, who is coming back from an injury.
Culliver joined the Redskins as a free agent last offseason after spending four years with the San Francisco 49ers and appeared in a half-dozen games with zero interceptions for Washington.
He sat out Washington's game in Week 2 of last season because the NFL suspended him for violating the league's personal conduct policy, a penalty that voided Culliver's guaranteed salary of $8 million for 2016.
The league did not say exactly why Culliver was suspended. He was arrested in March 2014 on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and reckless driving.
McCloughan said he spoke to Culliver about a half-hour before Monday's session with reporters, the GM's first comments since the draft.
''This is the tough part for me about this business, is having to do stuff like that with any player - but especially with him, because of the injury and that stuff,'' McCloughan said. ''It gives him an opportunity to go out there and test free agency. And our door is not closed yet, either.''
McCloughan said he did not offer Culliver a restructured deal, though.
''He can go out there and test the market and see what happens and hopefully he gets what he wants. I have no problem bringing him back here,'' the GM said. ''He's going to be in the league. Might be here, might be somewhere else.''
As for his seven-player draft haul, beginning with TCU receiver Josh Doctson at 22nd overall, McCloughan reiterated that he stuck to his mantra of choosing the best player available every time, regardless of his team's holes.
''In my personal opinion, (if) you draft for need, that's when you get in trouble,'' McCloughan said. ''If you had told me the night before (that I would be) taking a receiver in the first round, I would have laughed at you and said, `You're crazy.'''
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