Should the Arizona Cardinals cut Daryl Washington after his arrest? Not yet

One thing I think we all can agree on is that this whole Daryl Washington situation is a mess. The details of the incident in question seem damning. If we go by nothing more than that, it looks like jail time is to be expected. The worst case scenario? Years and years in prison.

With his current status up in the air, the voices calling for his release are starting to make some noise.

In fact, a voice you know, Tyler Nickel, is one of those voices, calling for the Cardinals to now cut ties with Washington.

Nickel writes that, due to the $10 million roster bonus due next offseason, that the Cardinals need to cut ties "before he causes anymore trouble." He also claims that head coach Bruce Arians "needs to lay down a precedent" with the team by not accepting players who would be "a cancer."

The trouble is that the team is willing to go with guys like Tyrann Mathieu. There is also the case of Joey Porter. Not long after he signed his free agent contract with the Cardinals, he was accused of a DUI...AND assaulting a police officer. They stuck with him, too long according to most fans, and nothing came of that incident.

A football team is much more than a job like we have. It is a family. And while his job is a much more public job and image is always important. However, if a coworker of ours were accused of the same crime, would your employer fire him or her before the process has played out? And how would you feel if your employer in fact did that?

Out of respect to him and the legal process, the team should do exactly what it is doing -- wait and see. If he ends up found not guilty or charges are dropped, and the team cut him, how would they look?

The fact of the matter is that when you get that any people working in one place (and the Cardinals currently have 88 under contract, plus coaches and other staff), you are bound to find one that is going through something bad. Does that mean they should be shown the door?

I understand that in the entertainment and sports world, people pay to see these individuals play. That does mean a higher standard and image does apply. However, we do not, as Nickel claims, "already know what the outcome will be and what the Cardinals are going to have to do."

As such, we need to let the details be revealed. We have heard only one side of things. We know that people accused of crimes are not always guilty.

The Cardinals should not do anything with Washington right now. They owe it to him as a member of the Cardinals family and also to the rest of his teammates, who may run into a difficulty and likely would not like to see the team prematurely decide on their future.

That $10 million? It's not due for almost a year. He isn't even going to play for the first four games of the season. They need to let the situation play itself out. Cutting Washington now would send the wrong message to all right now. As bad as it appears, it is not yet the whole story. We shouldn't close the book and assume how it ends.

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