Marcell Dareus will miss all organized team activities (OTAs) with the Buffalo Bills after his recent arrest that served as another bit of trouble on the pile of such that’s summed up this offseason for the Buffalo Bills defensive tackle. As to whether or not this was a punishment or a sign of things to come, Bills head coach Doug Marrone wouldn’t say. He did however have plenty to say about in support of the troubled young man.
Marrone told Paul Hamilton at WGR550.com:
"“We’re all well aware that Marcell has made some poor decisions lately and the one thing is that I’ve been working with him and he’s dealing with a lot of personal issues too. I spoke with him at length, we spent a lot of time together talking about a lot of things. As of now, he’s not going to be attending the OTA’s, but he will be attending the mandatory minicamp.”"
Again, there’s no word on whether that decision was made by Dareus or Marrone. Common sense suggests it was a mutual decision. This is still a tough one for the Bills. Dareus has clearly been troubled since his brother was killed last year and given the troubled past of Dareus to begin with, it’s no surprise that the 23 year old is struggling right now. Instead of laying down the hammer, Marrone is showing compassion which could work in his favor, or it could cause the floor to fall out from beneath him in other areas.
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Consider the players coming in from the draft, specifically Seantrel Henderson, who have been told in no uncertain terms that there is no room for mistakes. Now the Bills have a veteran and a top player on the team getting caught with synthetic weed and drag racing in the same offseason with his spot basically remaining intact.
The Buffalo Bills shouldn’t be faulted for keeping Marcell Dareus for now, but Dareus is likely on the same leash that Henderson and others will find themselves on come training camp. Any run-ins with the law, and it’s out the door with you. How that affects a team trying to break a 15 year playoff drought has yet to be seen, but consider Dareus to be on very thin ice at One Bills Drive.