Aldon Smith remains suspended by the NFL and has not appeared in a game since 2015, and the once promising star claims he can no longer afford his child support payments since he is currently out of work.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Smith is asking a judge to cut him a break on the roughly $9,000 per month he pays in child support. The former first-round pick, who has a 5-year-old son, says he has not been able to afford the payments while serving his suspension and has fallen $79,000 behind because of it. At the time he was ordered to make the payments, Smith says he was making $3 million per year.
“I have had no income since November 2015,” he told the court. “I have done my best to stay current, but without an income I have fallen behind.”
For what it’s worth, a source connected to Smith told TMZ that the Oakland Raiders linebacker is lying and that he has been blowing the child support payments off while living a “lavish lifestyle.”
There’s a chance Smith could be reinstated by the NFL this offseason, but that is far from a guarantee. He missed the entire 2016 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He was hoping to be reinstated back in March, but he was investigated for a domestic violence incident the month before and then involved in a bizarre incident in which his girlfriend collided with a police cruiser while driving Smith’s car. Smith denied reports that he had any involvement with the crash, but he revealed some information in an incredibly bizarre interview with reporters while leaving the police station.
Smith is just 28, but he has proven he is incapable of staying out of trouble. If he is reinstated this offseason, he will likely be down to his final strike with the league. There’s also the possibility that he could remain unsigned if the Raiders choose to release him.
