By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Running a business has its ups and downs.
Just ask Mark Davis, the owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The 2021 season has included some heart-pounding wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins, the departures of team president Marc Badain and coach Jon Gruden and the release of young players who have made awful decisions like Henry Ruggs III and now Damon Arnette.
Davis and Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock saw a video of Damon with a gun, threatening to take a life.
And the Raiders Monday waived the 25-year-old Arnette, who was on injured reserve since Oct. 9. Arnette was a Raiders first-round draft pick in 2020. He also was sued in connection to a car crash from last October.
Today we waived Damon Arnette. Very painful decision. We spent significant time, effort and resources trying to help him in facets of his life. 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. On a personal note, I’ve talked to Damon, his dad, a couple others in his life. From my perspective, he’s a very talented young man with a good heart. If he cleans up his life, I know he can make a living in the NFL. But not now with the Raiders. — General Manager Mark Mayock
The Raiders move to waive the cornerback comes less than a week after Ruggs killed an innocent motorist at 3:40 AM several miles west of the Strip in Las Vegas. Ruggs was charged with several felonies in connection to the DUI crash that killed driver Tina Tintor and her dog after Ruggs drove his car drunk going 156 MPH on Rainbow Boulevard Tuesday morning.
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“Obviously, we just lost [Henry] Ruggs [III] and Arnette, our two first round picks in a period of seven days,” Mayock said today. “So, am I sick to my stomach right now on a lot of levels? 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.”
There’s talk of the temptations of Las Vegas and their influence on young, rich professional athletes. Here’s Mayock on the matter:
There is always conversations about different players and what their ‘fit’ is in a community. Can a country kid live in a big city or vice versa? There is always conversation. What kind of culture does the kid come from? How will he fit? And I think that’s part of the conversation. We always talk about the fit for a young man, that will he fit here, and we do have to be aware of Vegas. But my thing is this, in just about any mid to big size city in the country, if you want to find trouble, you can find it. And our job is to find the kids that will get past that.
The Raiders play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football at Allegiant Stadium this week. The Raiders also signed wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
Mayock on Jackson’s signing: “He signed his contract a little while ago. He’s a Raider. He’s kind of a Bay Area kid as you all know, who went to Cal. He told us point blank on our Zoom call the other day, he’d look pretty good in the Silver and Black.”
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