Getty Former Raiders cornerback Damon Arnette.
The Las Vegas Raiders had to make a tough decision when they cut 2020 first-round pick Damon Arnette after videos leaked online of him threatening to kill someone while waving a gun around. The cornerback was injured and not playing well so it didn’t hurt the team on the field from a talent standpoint, but it was another distraction. The Raiders have moved on and it’s unlikely Arnette ever returns to the team.
However, he may not be opposed to the idea down the road if they’ll have him. Arnette has stayed relatively quiet about football since he was released but did hop on Instagram Live to make some comments. According to Cassie Soto of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Arnette said on the stream that he “was born a Raider, I have that s*** in my blood.”
Former #Raiders CB Damon Arnette is live on IG right now. Says “I was born a Raider, I have that sh*t in my blood” #RaiderNation
It wasn’t a comprehensive discussion of what led to his release but it’s interesting that he still identifies so strongly with the Raiders. Arnette had a lot of characteristics of old-school Raiders but his off-the-field issues proved to be too much.
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Will Arnette Get Another Chance in NFL?
GettyDamon Arnette with Las Vegas Raiders GM Mike Mayock.
In the hindsight, the Raiders almost certainly wouldn’t have drafted Arnette in the first round if given another chance. Not many teams had him ranked higher than a second-round pick. Given the obvious off-the-field concerns, it’s fair to question if he’ll get another chance in the NFL. His play on the field wouldn’t garner much excitement from teams around the league.
The Raiders clearly saw something in Arnette when they drafted him but it just didn’t translate to the NFL. He likely won’t see any interest from teams this season but he’ll have a chance to get back into the league at some point. If a team was high on him coming out of college, they could now get him at a major discount.
Raiders Looking to Turn Things Around
Arnette was just one of the many distractions surrounding the Raiders that has contributed to the team’s current three-game losing streak. Though the team is playing poorly right now, there’s still time to get back on track. The AFC is wide open and the Raiders sit at 5-5 with seven games left. Linebacker Cory Littleton isn’t happy about the recent losses.
“Everyone always has some type of emotion in the sense that we’ve been losing,” Littleton said Tuesday. “It don’t feel good. No one likes it. Now our mindset is, what are we going to do to change it?”
Things are looking dire for the Raiders right now but Littleton doesn’t believe the team is close to giving up.
“Just as a competitor you never go into anything with the mindset that you’ll never be able to do something,” Littleton said. “We’ve trained and we’ve prepared. Things haven’t been going the way we’ve wanted it to. That’s adversity in the season. It’s something we talk about and preach that we’re never going to back down from it. We’re up for the challenge. We have to start winning.”
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Damon Arnette Drops First Comments Since Raiders Release