Washington Football Team releases RB Derrius Guice following arrest for domestic violence

Washington Football Team released running back Derrius Guice on Friday after news broke of his arrest stemming from charges related to domestic violence. According to the Loudoun County (Va.) Sheriff’s Office, NFL.com confirmed that Guice’s charges include one count of felony strangulation, three counts of assault and battery, and one count of destruction of property. Authorities confirmed that he’s already turned himself in today.

“On Thursday we learned of a potential domestic violence related incident involving RB Derrius Guice,” the team said in a statement. “We immediately alerted the National Football League and have continued to work with them during this process. We then met with Derrius to inform him that he was excused from all team activity pending a review of this matter. This afternoon we learned that there were multiple charges filed against Derrius. Upon review of the nature of these charges and following internal discussions, we have decided to release Derrius immediately.”

This development marks the just the latest blemish on the reputation of the franchise after a tumultuous offseason that saw them come under national media fire for their long-overdue nickname and logo change as well as an exposé by the Washington Post that revealed detailed accounts of sexual harassment and misconduct towards women in the last decade-plus.

Guice was drafted by the team in the second round of the 2018 draft out of LSU, but multiple knee injuries in his first two years have limited him to just five games in a short career that might very well be over if he is convicted of the salacious charges that he’s facing. His rookie year was cut short by a torn ACL he suffered in the preseason and in 2019 he tore his meniscus and sprained his MCL.

His swift dismissal from the team is yet another honorable and just move by first year Head Coach Ron Rivera who has had to endure more adversity and turmoil for a life time in his inaugural season at the helm before an actual snap has been played. Since the organization is still without a general manager, Rivera has been closing working alongside majority owner Daniel Snyder and on the forefront tackling all the controversial issues that he inherited.

Guice was expected to be the team’s top back heading into the 2020 season but the onus being the bell cow will now fall back on to the more than capable shoulders of future first-ballot Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson.

Heading into his 15th year in the league and third in the nation’s capital, Peterson has been the next man up for Washington in each of the last two seasons when Guice went down. He’s been the team’s leading rusher in each of the last two seasons and started in all but one game over that span.

Peterson will be joined in the backfield by rookie Antonio Gibson who was selected in the third round out of Memphis back in April, fifth-year vet Peyton Barber who has 28 starts in 63 career games, 2019 fourth-round pick Bryce Love who spent his entire rookie season rehabbing from a knee injury on the non-football injury reserve list, and fifth-year scatback J.D. McKissic who is primarily a passing catcher out of the backfield and started three games for the Detroit Lions in 2019.

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