The Sports Xchange

FLORHAM PARK, N. J. – Sheldon Richardson is due to return to the New York Jets as soon as they return from their bye.

Or perhaps not.

On Sunday, the Jets’ troubled defensive end served the final game of his four-game suspension for failing multiple marijuana tests, sitting out the team’s 27-14 victory over the Miami Dolphins in London.

Richardson will return to practice with the Jets once they return from this week’s bye and begin preparations for their next game, which is Oct. 18 against the Washington Redskins at MetLife Stadium. Head coach Todd Bowles said Monday the Jets won’t have to remove a player from the roster until next week.

While the Jets’ defense has played well without Richardson – New York leads the NFL with 13 takeaways and has also collected seven sacks – Bowles said he looks forward to making room for the third-year star.

“You don’t have a challenge finding places for good players to play,” Bowles said

Alas, Bowles may have to worry again about finding someone to take Richardson’s place. Richardson has yet to be punished by the NFL for his arrest in Missouri in July, when he was charged with a litany of offenses following a high-speed car chase in which Richardson allegedly drove as fast as 143 mph.

Richardson was scheduled to appear in court Monday but had a continuance. The new date is Nov. 9. It is expected the NFL will not mete out additional discipline until the case is settled.

–History suggests good things await the Jets following their 3-1 start.

By virtue of Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, the Jets have at least three wins through four games for the 16th time in franchise history on Sunday. They have reached the playoffs seven times following a 3-1 start – including in 1968, when they won their first and only Super Bowl.

The Jets reached the AFC Championship Game four times since then – and three of those trips came following 3-1 starts, in 1982, 2009 and 2010.

In addition, the Jets have finished at least .500 in 14 of the previous 15 seasons in which they opened with at least three wins in their first four games. The only exception was 1963, when a 3-1 start turned into a 5-8-1 finish.

–WR Kenbrell Thompkins signed and was put on the practice squad Monday. Thompkins, 27, reached the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots in 2013 and has 53 catches for 728 yards and four touchdowns in 26 games with the Patriots and Oakland Raiders.

Thompkins also returned three kickoffs last season for the Raiders and could get a look in that role with the Jets, who have lacked a kickoff returner all season and released a potential kick returner, wide receiver Walter Powell, to make room for Thompkins, who was among the final cuts by the Raiders on Aug. 31 before joining the Patriots’ practice squad.

–Safety Calvin Pryor apparently avoided serious injury when he was hurt in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s the Jets’ 27-14 win over the Dolphins in London. Pryor went down in obvious pain following an incompletion with 7:42 left. He was able to walk off the field under his own power and his status going forward will be determined when the team returns from its bye.