It’s still unclear why the Lions cut cornerback Terrion Arnold after he was arrested on eight felony charges. It is clear based on the latest installment of this season’s Hard Knocks that the Seahawks would have cut Arnold, too.
The third episode of this year’s show includes a sideline conversation between G.M. John Schneider and special-teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh at practice, regarding the free-agent with whom the Seahawks have struck an agreement but have not yet officially added to the team.
“If you’re [the Lions], why would you release him?” Harbaugh said to Schneider.
“Well, it was because it was very shocking,” Schneider replied. “Like, if you read The Athletic article, it’s not good, you know?”
“And you would imagine if it was flipped, it’d probably be the same thing here?” Harbaugh said.
“I think we probably would have had to let him go,” Schneider admitted.
“Because it’s just the nature of like — when you’re the team, it’s different than the second-chance team,” Harbaugh said. “It’s totally different.”
“Yeah. I get that,” Schneider said.
The rest of the episode includes some of the due diligence the Seahawks performed, with Schneider making it clear that he spoke to former Alabama coach Nick Saban about Arnold. There’s also a scene in which Schneider and Arnold’s agent, Nicole Lynn, tentatively agree that Arnold will accept an offer from the Seahawks.
There’s nothing in the episode regarding whether incoming ownership was consulted regarding the move. It would be fair for Vinod Khosla and/or his wife Neeru (who will be the controlling owner, if the deal is approved next week) to push back on the notion that it would be acceptable to the Seahawks to be Arnold’s “second-chance” team if the facts reported were sufficiently “shocking” to prompt the Seahawks to cut him, if Arnold had already been on the roster.
That’s not to say Arnold doesn’t deserve a second chance. But it seems premature to declare him ready for one. The criminal case against him is pending. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Mike Vick, for example, got his second chance after he pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges and paid his debt to society by serving a prison term. At this point, the charges against Arnold are unresolved. The facts that Schneider found “shocking” could be entirely true — Saban’s vouching for Arnold notwithstanding.
The whole thing is just odd. And, as a source with another team put it last week regarding the Seahawks’ willingness to move forward with Arnold, “They won, and they don’t care.”
New ownership might feel differently. Especially after watching the latest episode of Hard Knocks.
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