For the record - the closest I've ever come to meeting Marcell Dareus is when he sat at the table next to me at Tempo Restaurant in Buffalo a couple of years ago. He finished his 24 ounce Mario Williams steak - I came in a close second. Beyond that, all I can go on is what I've read. I don't think he's a bad guy - I think he's a bad decision maker, which is a lot closer to being stupid than it is to bad, or as he put it just two weeks ago "trouble."
But where is the line drawn? Having synthetic marijuana in your car while speeding on an Alabama road is more stupid than dangerous, while this alleged drag race in peak travel time is more the latter. What if he had killed another driver? A pedestrian? A kid on a bike? Then we are having a whole different conversation. It's one thing to risk your own health and safety, it's a completely different one to risk public safety - as he did for anyone on Milestrip Road at 3pm on a Friday.
So where do the Bills go from here? The idea of cutting Dareus seems rash. He would be picked up off of waivers faster than a speeding Jaguar, and rightfully so. When his head is right, Dareus produces on the football field. He may not be living up to 3rd overall pick status, but he's in the conversation when discussing the top 10 defensive tackles in the league. That's pretty good on a team that cannot afford to lose talent as they go for broke in 2014. Maybe football production shouldn't impact the punishment, but in reality it does.
From a locker room standpoint, what sort of precedent does letting him off scott free - other than the looming Roger Goodell imposed punishment - set? This offseason the Bills have signed or drafted multiple players with ample talent and checkered pasts. Brandon Spikes got a below market rate one year deal because of his antics in New England. Mike Williams cost the Bills a 6th round pick and by all accounts is on his last chance to stay out of trouble and just play. They drafted gifted but troubled offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson in the 7th round and made it clear immediately to him and the public that his first mistake in a Bills uniform will be his last. How can they coddle and rehab Dareus while saying that multiple other guys are one and done? It comes back to that blurred line between bad and stupid. Dareus has had a lot of problems in his personal life over the past two seasons, most notably the murder of his brother, and the trouble he's gotten into has coincided with that aftermath. Before that, he was noted as a good teammate and a good guy. Read his personal history, it's loaded with tragedy and challenges but he persevered and stayed straight all the way through college. His behavior has changed in the past year or so.
The agreement between Dareus and Doug Marrone to stay away from the remaining OTA's makes sense. Stay away from the voluntary practices, figure out what is really going on, and come back when the team reconvenes. Hopefully he fixes his path and stays on the straight and narrow. If not, someone could actually get hurt - and that's when the football aspect goes out the window for the Bills and the decision to cut ties with him becomes more clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment