With a bizarre loss to the Las Vegas Raiders last weekend and a season seemingly spiraling out of the NFL playoffs, the current New England Patriots are enduring a forgettable season on the the field. One of the greats from their past - Willie McGinest - is having an even worse year off of it.
Arrested this week on felony assault charges for his part in a brutal beating of a man at a California restaurant, McGinest has been yanked off the air by NFL Network, where he served as an analyst. The network - via Pro Football Talk - says:
"We are aware of the incident and the video, which is disturbing. Willie McGinest will not appear on NFL Network while we review the matter."
Since his arrest and release on bond, McGinest took to Instagram to begin attempting to explain what clearly looks like a violent attack on an unsuspecting victim. Wrote McGinest on his IG:
“Things aren’t always how they seem at first glance. The Truth will prevail.”
McGinest is, of course, afforded due process and every man is innocent until proven guilty. But ... this looks bad. Hideous. Brutal. Difficult to watch. He and his legal team will have to come up with compelling evidence that he was not somehow involved in this violent confrontation, or that his participation was purely in self-defense or somehow otherwise justified.
With 12 seasons in New England, two Pro Bowls and three Super Bowl rings, McGinest is a hero from the dynasty days. He holds the Pats' record for playoff sacks. And in 2015 he became a "made man," inducted into the team's Hall of Fame.
He will have his day in court. But will he also have his place in the Patriots' HOF judged for something along the lines of "conduct unbecoming of an icon?"
Obviously McGinest earned enshrinement for his performance on the field. But it's bad optics for the Patriots to boast him as one of their all-time best and brightest in the wake of this incident.
Video from the West Hollywood hot-spot, Delilah, on Dec. 9 shows McGinest, 51, and some other men approaching and then attacking a man in the middle of the restaurant. McGinest and the others walk right up to the man, become involved in a brief verbal confrontation, and then yank him out of his seat to start beating him.
At one point during the melee, the 6-5, 270-pound McGinest appears to wrap his hand around a bottle ... and then begin slamming the bottle into the man's head repeatedly.
There are some other elements that appear to stand out in the case of McGinest (who played for the Patriots from 1994-2005 and the Cleveland Browns from 2006-08). Those include the apparent use of the bottle as a weapon, what looks like him throwing the first punch, and what looks like the people with him also punching this person.
There may well be some revelations to come on what led to this incident and what exactly happened. And it’s far from clear that this will lead to a felony conviction; there’s a long path to that point. And some or all of that may be why NFL Network has only gone with “will not appear” rather than language of a suspension or termination to this point.
But it does seem difficult to envision what particular “Truth” could make it worth it for NFLN to bring back McGinest after this video. And maybe impossible for the Patriots to keep him in their Hall of Fame.
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