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Is the NFL Blacklisting Kerry Rhodes?

Lanky Livingston

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I post this in here, because the Redskins could use some help at Safety, especially if Meriweather's knee keeps giving him problems. If it needs to be moved, I understand!

Kerry Rhodes is a good safety, who was basically outed last season, even though he vehemently denies it. Drew Magary of Deadspin (I know, I know, some of you don't like his stuff, but from time to time he actually has some thought-provoking stuff, like this time) brought up the possibility of Rhodes being blacklisted:

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Is The NFL Blacklisting Kerry Rhodes?

Free agent safety Kerry Rhodes was more or less outed by Media Takeout during the offseason (the pictures that MTO posted of him with another man appear to have been scrubbed from the site). He still hasn't found a job. This is ****ed up, because Kerry Rhodes is good. In fact, by many metrics, he's very good.

Rhodes picked off four passes last season (two of them came against the Jets, but still!) and was part of the fifth-best pass defense in the NFL. Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the fourth-best safety in all of football in 2012. Apart from the retired Ronde Barber, Rhodes is the only player in PFF's top 30 safeties from 2012 that doesn't currently have a job.

Look at his career stats and you will see that there was no obvious drop-off in the quality of Rhodes's play in 2012 compared to the seven previous seasons. He's been serviceable at worst and Pro Bowl-caliber at best. Nothing about him has changed except for the fact that someone put up a picture of him with his arm around a dude. Rhodes has vehemently denied the gay rumors, and yet the mere suspicion of his gayness seems to have been enough to make him unemployable.

If you watched any of the games from Week 1, you know that there are roughly 50 teams that could use improved safety play. According to Mike Florio, four teams tried out defensive backs this week: the Bucs, Colts, Dolphins and Seahawks. None of them brought in Rhodes. The second David Wilson put two balls on the ground against the Cowboys, Tom Coughlin was sprinting to the waiver wire to find any running back with 10 fingers and a working spinal cord (he grabbed Brandon Jacobs, which indicates that he failed in that task). Why a team like the Ravens—who were DESTROYED by Julius Thomas and the rest of the Denver passing offense—wouldn't do the same thing and at least kick the tires on Rhodes is baffling. Florio told me this in an email:

From league source who requested anonymity: "There's no buzz about Kerry Rhodes." Also, from what I am hearing, I can't disagree with the possibility Rhodes is being blackballed. You can quote me on all of this.

I called 5 Star Athlete Management, which represents Rhodes, to ask if the safety had fielded any calls this week. Jennifer Thatcher, a VP at the agency, confirmed that Rhodes got no tryouts after Week 1, but she declined to comment any further.

Even if you're unmoved by any social-justice concerns here, there's the basic football problem of it. My favorite team BLOWS at strong safety right now, and it annoys me that they, along with 31 other teams, have so conspicuously avoided giving a capable defensive player like Rhodes so much as a tryout.

Is The NFL Blacklisting Kerry Rhodes?
 
It very well may be that he's being blacklisted but the plain truth is, teams don't like negative publicity or talk concerning players that has nothing to do with football. It takes away from what you're trying to accomplish. Once a team signs him, the gay talk/speculation picks up and it takes away from football. Unless you're the Jets, do you really want to deal with that?

Not saying it's right, I'm just saying how I perceive it.
 
I'd bring him in immediately. Very interesting read.
 
I can't remember where I read it, but even before he was outed, the teams he had been with were glad to see him go because he brought "a circus" with him to the locker room and his previous teams seemed tired of it.

Now add this on top of it and I can see why this is happening. Not saying it's right.......
 
At this point, if he even remotely fits what we do on D, which so far hasn't been much, I'd bring him in for a look, circus or not. We can't count on Underweather making it through a game, never mind the season.....
 
If the object is to win, then yeah, bring him in. Hell, Tanard isn't sounding so bad at this point.
 
Bring him in. MeriFeatherWeight is a lost cause. This locker room has enough leaders to keep KH's antics in check.

Speaking only for myself - don't care one way or the other about his s.o.
 
Redskins need to sign this guy, and fast. Our secondary is atrocious, and he is a decent player. Who the eff cares what he does with his free time????
 
don't bring him in.

if we're going to become bigger risk takers, then the next time there is a honey badger out there draft/sign him. 4 ints? 2 in one game? big whoop.

average to pro-bowl quality? well, that sure narrows it down, does't it?

fix the problem in the off-season with a changed management/roster philosophy.

go with what we have on hand. bringing someone in during the season almost NEVER works.
 
Redskins need to sign this guy, and fast. Our secondary is atrocious, and he is a decent player. Who the eff cares what he does with his free time????

yea...that is one way of putting it. kinda like other arguments where we were told "it's all about love and not resources". which, of course, turned out to be a sham.

I know, let's see if there are any pedofiles who have safety skills. what they do in the privacy of their homes has no bearing with what happens in the locker room or the field.

gimme a break. this thread is comically transparent.
 
As long as he isn't doing anything illegal--anything that could get him suspended like other players we have, I couldn't care less about what he does off the field. That isn't even an issue.

You bring this guy in immediately.
 
he was offered a one year, guaranteed $3 million by the Cards and turned them down.

how about honest posting in our own threads?

yea...nothing political going on here!

and the BS about off the field activities being irrelevant? yea...right up to the moment someone smokes some weed, gets into a bar fight, shoots himself in the leg, gets a DUI, opposes some non-PC commentator who wants to buy into a team, etc., etc.

cmon folks...get your stories straight. (pun intended).
 
he was offered a one year, guaranteed $3 million by the Cards and turned them down.

THIS may even be the reason we haven't contacted him. We simply can't afford him without another restructure.
 
I'm not opposed to signing any good player.

just tired of the hidden normalization agenda.
 

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