| 23 July 2012
Early Sunday morning, Detroit Lions cornerback Aaron Berry was arrested on three charges of simple assault in his hometown of Harrisburg, PA. Word from the local police claimed Berry was brandishing a weapon. It was Berry's second arrest in less than a month, being he was busted on a DUI on June 23rd.
Monday morning, with training camp on the horizon, Berry was waived by the Lions. He becomes second casualty of what has been a ridiculous off season in Detroit. What was the first casualty? The Lions' reputation.
So what have we learned?
- Waving a gun like a lunatic will get you waived for “personal conduct which adversely affects the club.”
- Drunk/high driving will not.
- Want to stay in the NFL? Don't point your handgun at a Dolphins blogger.
- Telling fans to go back to being "broke and miserable" after a loss will come back to bite you in the ass, resulting in a great deal of schadenfreude.
- Nothing good ever happens after 2 AM. Nothing.
- There are no diversionary programs for gun brandishing, unlike those for substance abuse.
- 7 arrests in an off season is 1 too many.
- Apparently Berry wasn't listening when the Lions brass read the riot act to the roster after the multiple arrests of Nick Fairley, Mikel Leshoure and Johnny Culbreath.
- The Lions go into camp without a player they were hoping would step up and take a starting spot in the secondary.
- Being smart isn't a necessary qualification for being an NFL cornerback.
- The Lions are reached the point of zero-tolerance in regard to off field shenanigans. Knuckleheads will be cut, even if they are at the top of the depth chart.
Aaron Berry left the Lions no choice. He had to be cut, end of story. A message needed to be sent, an example made. Waiving Berry may hurt the Lions in the short term, but there was no way in Hell the Lions could keep him on the roster. Lions President Tom Lewand said as much in the press release announcing the move.
“We have repeatedly stressed to everyone in our organization that there will be appropriate consequences when an expected standard of behavior is not upheld.”
The only people who are happy with the turn of events are cornerbacks Jacob Lacey and Alphonso Smith, along with secondary rookies Bill Bentley, Chris Greenwood and Jonte Green. They have been given a golden oppportunity. Let's hope at least one of them is up to it.
