The Las Vegas Raiders have to be reconsidering whether somebody in Oakland put a hex on the team when they left town.
The team, known for its iconic silver and black unis and rabid fans has had one problem after another since decamping from the Bay Area to its plush new $1 billion stadium in Sin City. After opening the season with a string of impressive wins, the Raiders have experienced an equally impressive string of scandals.
The latest? The team cut one of its defensive backs, Damon Arnette, on Monday after he apparently threatened to kill someone in a video that surfaced on social media.
From The Athletic:
“The Las Vegas Raiders released cornerback Damon Arnette on Monday after a video on social media appeared to show the 2020 first-round pick threatening someone’s life while brandishing multiple guns. The video was deleted Friday evening.
“Today we waived Damon Arnette,” general manager Mike Mayock told reporters Monday, calling it a “painful decision.”
“There have been a series of bad decisions over the past year or so,” he added. “But we can’t stand the video with a gun threatening to take a life.”
On Friday, Raiders coach Rich Bisaccia said the team was aware of a 2020 lawsuit in which Arnette was accused of injuring a woman in a car crash in Las Vegas. “I think it’s been pushed toward his lawyers and his attorneys and their team of people to handle that,” Bisaccia said. “I don’t think we can actually comment on it any further than that.”
Mayock said Monday he was “sick to my stomach.”
Talk about getting fired on your day off. Arnette was one of two 2020 first-round draft picks that the Raiders have had to cut in as many weeks. He played in at least four of the Raiders’ games this season, the last being an Oct. 4, loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in which he took 29% of the defensive snaps, according to stats site Pro Football Reference.
Ironically, cutting Arnette is the second major decision Bisaccia has had to make in his disastrously short time as the Raiders head coach. Last week, the team cut its other former 2020 first round pick, wideout Henry Ruggs III, after a fiery car accident that killed a woman in Las Vegas. Prosecutors have charged Ruggs in the death, which they say stemmed from him driving drunk at 156 miles per hour.
And let’s not forget how Bisaccia got his job: he was promoted when former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigned in October after a series of racist and homophobic statements he made in emails to other NFL team and business executives were made public.