The Las Vegas Raiders Have Cut Another Draft Pick, (Who’s Next)?

Arnette playing his last game as a Las Vegas Raider

Hey Raiders fans, there’s trouble fumbling again. The Las Vegas Raiders have cut another 2020 first round pick in second year cornerback Damon Arnette.

This is now twice in less than a week in which the Raiders have let go of players who are considered to be, “bad eggs”. On Monday, the team cut Arnette due to off-the-field issues. The former first round selection was released following a video in which Arnette was seen on social media making death threats while holding a gun.

General Manager Mike Mayock’s Press Conference Discussing the Release of Defensive Back Damon Arnette

Reactions from The General Manager

It was a “painful decision”, Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock told, VegasSportsToday.com, to waive Arnette, who was drafted in the first-round of the 2020 draft along with Henry Ruggs III.

“We spent significant time, effort, and resources trying to help him in facets of his life,” Mayock said. “There have been a series of bad decisions over the last year or so, but 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.”

“Yeah, there was significant concern and most of the teams around the league were very aware of it,” Mayock said. “We spent an awful lot of time trying to understand his behavior and really what kind of tilted everything in the direction of, ‘OK, let’s go ahead and draft him’ was that we knew that coaching staff pretty well. We knew what they had asked him to do his last year at Ohio State. They felt very strongly that they knew who we had on our staff and that we’d be able to work with this young man, and not only help him on the football field, but help him in his life.

“Obviously in hindsight we weren’t able to do it. I know a lot of people, including myself, we were all concerned about this, but at the time we thought it was an acceptable risk and obviously it’s painful at all levels.”

“So, am I sick to my stomach right now on a lot of levels?” Mayock said. “Yes, I mentioned we found the risk acceptable after doing more homework on Arnette than anybody we’ve done in the years I’ve been here, and obviously we missed. That is 100 percent on me.”

Mayock said he has been in contact with both Arnette and his father and still thinks he has the potential to turn his life around and make a living in the NFL. In addition to the video, there were also reports that Arnette was being sued by two other individuals involving leaving the scene of an auto collision and an altercation with a valet worker at a Las Vegas casino.

Raiders Past Problems

Arnette’s release from the team came after DUI charges were dropped against running back Josh Jacobs concerning a car crash in January. In Jacobs’s case, his BAC was under the legal limit, therefore, he did not have to serve jail time. For now, Jacobs should be thankful, but be careful of his next move.

Former head coach Jon Gruden resigned due to a New York Times post detailing a decade of misogynistic, racist, and homophobic emails.

Arnette’s former teammate, Ruggs III, was charged with a DUI, but unlike Jacobs, who was under the legal limit, Ruggs crashed his Chevy Corvette into the back of a Toyota Rav4 while driving 156 mph, killing a 23-year-old woman named Tina Tintor. Ruggs now faces four felony charges and also faces a gun possession, which is a misdemeanor in the state of Nevada.

Arnette’s Final Goodbye

At No. 19 overall, out of Ohio State, Arnette only played in 13 games. He started in 7, and tallied three total passes defended, 29 tackles which 23 of them being solo tackles.


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