COMMENTARY
Sullivan: Era of 'character and intelligence' takes a beating
It was three years ago this month, in Marv Levy's first draft as general manager, that the Bills began talking about their renewed commitment to bringing in players of character and intelligence to the organization.
They have learned to regret ever uttering those words, "character and intelligence." You have to watch what you preach in the modern NFL, where no team is immune from the dubious off- field behavior that has become all too commonplace in the league.
Levy had us believing the Bills would adhere to a higher standard when it came to player behavior. Three years later, most Bills fans would be happy to root for a team that was in the middle when it came to off-field indiscretions. Right now, they're in danger of joining the Bengals as the poster boys for bad behavior.
Marshawn Lynch had been suspended for the first three games of the regular season for running afoul of the law twice in a nine-month period. Lynch has embarrassed the franchise and, barring a successful appeal, has compromised the Bills competitively in the first three games of the season.
The Bills kept Anthony Hargrove in 2007, despite Hargrove's scuffle with police and four-game suspension for substance abuse. They drafted James Hardy, who had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Charges were dropped when he agreed to enter a pretrial intervention program.
They traded for Marcus Stroud, who had served a four-game suspension for substance abuse in 2007. Early this year, free safety Ko Simpson was charged with hindering police outside a bar — and uttering the famous words, "I'm Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions." Charges were later dropped when Simpson agreed to a pretrial intervention program.
Now comes the troubling news that safety Donte Whitner has been charged with resisting arrest and aggravated disorderly conduct during a "near-riot" outside a popular night club in his native Cleveland early Saturday morning.
Police say Whitner attempted to force his way past officers who were trying to break up the fracas outside the House of Blues at around 3 a.m. Whitner was reportedly Tasered by the cops when he took a fighting stance and tried to get out of the club to join the melee in the street.
All the facts aren't in yet. Whitner spent the night in jail and was released later Saturday when a prosecutor couldn't be found. From the sound of it, Whitner might have been attempting to get out of the club to help friends who were involved in the fight on the street.
Whitner will get his day in court. Maybe the charges will be dropped and he will get a shot at the ever-popular "pretrial intervention program." I'm reluctant to jump to conclusions, since pro athletes get top legal representation and generally the most favorable legal outcome.
But this is more bad news for the Bills. Coming on top of the Lynch suspension, it makes them appear like a team with a behavior problem. Maybe it's unfair, but if players keep getting arrested outside bars in the early morning hours — or in Lynch's case, with marijuana and an unlicensed gun — you can't cry about bad PR.
Wasn't it Terrell Owens who was going to be the distraction?
This one must really sting Bills management. Whitner was the first draft pick of the "character and intelligence" era, a guy known for his serious, studious nature (this isn't his first brush with the law, though. He was charged with assaulting his girlfriend here in '06. Charges were later dropped).
Since the start of his second season, Whitner has been a team leader and locker room spokesman, a stand-up guy. He has defensive teammates over to his house once a week to study film. He has been active in charitable causes and has been a strong advocate for single mothers back in Cleveland.
Whitner is seen as one of the good guys in the NFL, a young man who wants to do the right thing and be a genuine role model in the community. It's alarming, at the very least, to hear he had to be subdued by cops in the early morning hours during a near riot outside a bar.
He's 23. You can't expect him to sit home all the time. But if Whitner is going to pass himself off as a leader, he needs to hold himself to a higher standard of behavior. There's little good that happens at 3 a.m. outside a nightclub. Whitner embarrassed himself and the organization, at a time when the Bills have been embarrassed enough.
Whitner has also compromised himself as a leader. Last year, he put himself on the spot by guaranteeing the Bills would make the playoffs. He never backed down, even when the Bills' season began to unravel. He played hurt and tried to set an example.
As he sat in that jail Saturday morning, Whitner must have realized the folly of his actions. If you're one of the smart NFL players, you know you cannot put yourself in situations where your hard-earned reputation can be trashed in an instant.
The only guarantee I want to hear from Whitner now is that this sort of thing will never happen again.
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