Rob Long: Rally Time
For the most part, the Baltimore Ravens have been pretty quiet on their stance concerning the Ray Rice domestic violence situation. You can certainly understand why the Ravens would want to wait until things calmed down before they committed to anything and apparently now is the perfect time.
Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said Rice's future with the team is not in jeopardy based on his current legal matters. Bisciotti told ESPN, "If everybody was one-strike-and-you're-out, then we'd all be in trouble. When somebody repeats mistakes, it's showing a lack of character to me. You can't take what Ray's done -- the kind of locker-room influence he's been and the kind of community commitment that he's shown -- and say he's a different person."
Rice was arrested and charged on February 15 with simple assault-domestic violence after an altercation with his fiancee and mother of his child.
There's been speculation by fans whether or not this could lead to the Ravens cutting Ray Rice. While the financial obligation ($8.750 million for a cap hit and $14.250 million in dead money) of the team would make it quite difficult, it seems Bisciotti's comments puts all of the speculation to rest. Ray Rice will be a member of the Baltimore Ravens for at least the 2014 season. I agree with the owner, Rice has been a model citizen and unless there's other evidence that suggests he's been living a double life, it's tough to make the call to cut him, even without the big money obligation. However, look for the team to draft a running back sometime after the third round.
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