Rolando McClain Retires From NFL After Latest Arrest
By Josh Hill
There are coincidences and then there is former Oakland Raiders first-round draft pick Rolando McClain retiring from the NFL not long after joining the Baltimore Ravens and then being arrested. Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome announced on Wednesday that the linebacker and former Alabama Crimson Tide product had informed him of his intentions to retire effective immediately.
“Rolando let me know that he plans to retire from the NFL,” Newsome stated, via the Baltimore Ravens web site. “We have placed him on the Reserve/Retired list.”
McClain was always a talented player and showed flashes of being a great linebacker in his rookie season with the Raiders, but his troubles off the field are what dominated his playing days and is ultimately what ended them. Twice this year McClain has been arrested, once in January and then again in April just ten days after signing a one-year deal with Baltimore.
His retirement likely stems directly from his arrest for resisting police officers as the linebacker is due in court on June 9th. McClain was most likely going to be punished by the NFL, so rather than take that punishment he’s just going to retire. That may not be his motivation, but the dots connect in an awful convenient way.
Things got strange with McClain late in his Raiders career and the team took forever to cut him. There were rumors of the Raiders cutting McClain around the time of his fist arrest in 2013, especially after McClain was vocal in saying the police had either set him up or had the wrong person in custody. His second arrest to to bed the notion that people were out to get McClain, as his biggest opponent was never a running back or even the law — it was alway himself.
Now he has plenty of time to contemplate his life decisions, but the sad fact of the matter is that given his track record, the last thing McClain is likely to do with his free time is think on his mistakes. Hopefully he gets the help he desperately needs, as at the end of the day McClain is a lost and troubled 24 year old kid just trying to make it in the world.
He needs help, he’s just not going to be getting it from the NFL anymore. Chances are if he can get his life back on track he’ll make a comeback as he’s still extremely young, but a lot needs to change before that comeback is even considered.