There could be an ulterior motive to the Green Bay Packers’ decision to release tight end Martellus Bennett on Wednesday.
Just days after Bennett revealed on Instagram that he was likely to retire after the 2017 season, Bennett was released by the Packers with the designation that he failed to disclose a medical condition.
Bennett was in the first season of a three-year, $21 million deal with Green Bay, and the failure to disclose designation led NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport to speculate that Green Bay would go after the money owed to Bennett.
The #Packers paid TE Martellus Bennett $8M of his 3-year, $21M contract. The only tangible benefit to cutting him with the failure to disclose is if they argue his entire contract is void & go after his money. This isn’t over just yet.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 8, 2017
ESPN further reported that the Packers would likely go after $4.2 million of Bennett’s $6.3 million signing bonus.
It appears likely that, at the very least, Green Bay will want some of Bennett’s money back. Clearly they were blindsided by his decision.
