Chargers' Weddle runs sprints at practice days after being placed on IR

The seemingly inevitable divorce between the San Diego Chargers and safety Eric Weddle may have a few messy chapters left, after all.

The Chargers seemed to close the book on Weddle this week, ending the veteran's season by placing him on IR.

That roster move came just hours removed from news that the team fined Weddle $10,000 for watching his daughter dance in the halftime show.

Weddle let his actions do the talking Thursday when he ran sprints at Chargers practice, strongly suggesting his placement on IR was less about a major injury than removing him from the team.

It's against NFL rules to place a healthy player on IR, but teams out of the playoff race regularly put players with minor injuries on IR late in the season so they can get a closer look at young prospects.

"We made the decision on what we thought was best for the football team this week, with what his injury was, what his diagnosis was and when we thought he could play again and be at full speed to help our team," Chargers head coach Mike McCoy told reporters, according to ESPN's Eric D. Williams. "That's the decision we made."

Quarterback Philip Rivers offered mild support of Weddle on Wednesday.

"I hate it that he's not going to be out there for his last one and finish this season with all of us," Rivers said. "That's definitely tough. You don't want to see it end that way for him.

"He's played through a lot of things over his career. And so I would have loved to see him have the chance to get to Friday or Saturday, and see if he could go. But that didn't happen because I think he would have done all he could to be out there with us one last time."

It sounds like Weddle could have been out there with his Chargers teammates one last time, but for whatever reason the team chose not to go that route.

Weddle is set to become a free agent after the season ends.