Jerry Jones has an ego the size of Texas.
The Dallas Cowboys owner is notorious for being a control freak and nowhere is that more obvious when he made himself both president and general manager.
So it wasn’t the least bit surprising when “America’s team” messed up in a major way and refused to apologize and admit they were wrong.
The list of Dallas Cowboys screw-ups and mishandling of situations is nearly endless.
From the disturbing hiring of defensive end Greg Hardy – who was arrested for assault after beating his girlfriend, to overpaying and defending the indefensible quarterback Tony Romo – who is almost always the brunt of any Cowboys joke.
Just look at the public relations of the 2016-17 season about the starting quarterback controversy between Tony Romo and Dak Prescott and you’ll see just how incompetent, indecisive, and emotional the Cowboys were in handling that situation.
But then you have a virtually unknown wide receiver, Lucky Whitehead, who was arrested for shoplifting in Prince William County, Virginia. Or was he?
Whitehead was forthcoming in immediately denying it was him and that it was a case of mistaken identity.
And instead of doing due-diligence and investigating what happened, the Cowboys ignored Whitehead and released him from the team.
But Whitehead wasn’t lying – the perpetrator arrested knew all of his private information including his social security number.
And instead of reinstating Whitehead like a good employer should do, the Cowboys not only stuck by their decision, but they also refused to apologize for their decision.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
“Lucky Whitehead said all along that reports of him being arrested for shoplifting $40 worth of items from a convenience store were a case of mistaken identity.
His claims did not stop the Dallas Cowboys from releasing the 25-year-old wide receiver on Monday.
A day later, though, police in Whitehead’s home state of Virginia confirmed that the man charged with the crime gave a false identity and is not the former Cowboys player. The player’s full name is Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr.
Prince William County police said in a statement on Tuesday: “Upon reviewing the June 22, 2017 arrest of an individual named ‘Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr.’, the police department is confident that the man charged with petit larceny, and who is subsequently being sought on an active warrant for failure to appear in court, is not Lucky Whitehead of the Dallas Cowboys.”
Reports surfaced Monday that Whitehead had been charged with that crime and with missing a related court date on July 6.
Later that morning following the Cowboys’ first practice of training camp, Whitehead was escorted off the field by a member of the team’s public relations staff, even though he claimed he “didn’t know about” the shoplifting case.
“No one had my back,” he told the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “I didn’t even get to clear my name. … I was pretty much being called a liar.”
Police said in the statement that the man arrested in the shoplifting case did not have identification on him at the time of the incident, but told officers he was Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr. and even provided a matching Social Security number and birthdate.
That information was checked through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, which provided a photo that was compared to the man in custody.
“Officers acted in good faith that, at the time, the man in custody was the same man matching the information provided,” the department stated.
“At this point, the police department is also confident in confirming that Mr. Whitehead’s identify was falsely provided to police during the investigation. The police department is currently seeking the identity of the man involved in the incident.”
The department added that the player has been cleared of any crime and it “regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family.”
Whitehead’s attorney, Dave Rich, said Monday that Whitehead was not even in Virginia at the time of the incident. He suggested Tuesday that his client was fired as a reaction to other off-field incidents involving Cowboys players this off-season.”
Meanwhile, the Cowboys actions are all about their star running back Ezekiel Elliot who was involved in a domestic disturbance incident at Ohio State and a bar fight recently – and whether the NFL will suspend him for the upcoming season.
The Cowboys are acting like they have a zero tolerance policy so the league will go easy on Elliot.
But Whitehead and his agent announced they wouldn’t go back to Dallas even if they wanted him back. And luckily, or perhaps unluckily for him, the New York Jets just claimed him off of waivers.