There were questions about Damon Arnette’s off-the-field exploits going into the draft and if he was mature enough to play in the NFL.
You always want to give a kid a chance to prove people wrong, but in this case, it appears the concerns were valid, and it has led to Arnette being released by Raiders after BSO was first to report Arnette threatening to kill a man who was trolling him in Instagram DMs.
Raiders GM Mike Mayock spoke on Arnette’s release and why this is mostly his fault as the GM.
“Very painful decision,” said Raiders general manager Mike Mayock in a conference call. “We spent significant time, effort and resources trying to help him in all aspects of his life.
“There have been a series of bad decisions over the last year or so, but we can’t stand, we cannot stand for the video of Damon with a gun, threatening to take a life. The content was unacceptable, contrary to our values and our owner Mark Davis has been very clear and very consistent that this is not how we will conduct ourselves in this community. The bottom line — the Raiders will not tolerate this type of behavior.”
Mayock added that he had talked with Arnette, his father and others in his life and “from my perspective, he’s a very talented young man with a good heart. He cleans up his life, I know he can make a living in the NFL. But not now, with the Raiders.”
After Arnette’s release, some other stories are coming out about his time with the Raiders, including this one via the NFL Network.
There were troubling off-the-field signs everywhere for Raiders first-rounder Damon Arnette. For instance: In his first year in the NFL, Arnette crashed four rental cars within roughly a month, sources said. Now, after a tumultuous weekend including online threats, he’s out.
We will see if Arnette ever gets another shot in the NFL.
Flip the pages for him, waving around some crazy-looking guns and threatening to kill a man.
