Sean McDermott is not messing around. The Buffalo Bills head coach sent home stud defensive tackle Marcell Dareus on Saturday night for violating team rules and he won’t play against the Baltimore Ravens.
The news was first reported by Jason La Canfora and quickly confirmed by the Buffalo Bills.
“Bills new regime doing yeoman's work trying to change culture here. Loosey-goosey Rex Ryan days long over. Dareus long been an issue,” tweeted La Canfora, who speculates that he saw Dareus arrive at the stadium around 5 p.m. when many Bills players were already on the field warming up.
“Sean and I are going to do things the right way,” said general manager Brandon Beane in an impromptu news conference before the game. “He violated a team rule, so we sent him home. Disappointing.”
“This is the move we wanted to make today,” he continued, declining to indicate if more discipline would follow. “A guy with his contract status, you’d hope he’d be a better leader than that.”
The former Pro Bowler has an extensive list of missed NFL time due to bad decisions. In 2016, Dareus was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s policy on drug use. The previous season, he as banned for one game. Way back in 2013, Doug Marrone benched him for the first quarter of a December game against the Miami Dolphins, reportedly for being late to team meetings throughout the season.
That laundry list of on-field discipline doesn’t include arrests for synthetic marijuana and drag racing in the middle of Orchard Park.
A former third overall pick, Dareus has immense talent and a matching contract. Buffalo can't release him now, as a huge balloon dead cap of $12 million would cripple their financial stability. They will have to hope that McDermott and his veteran teammates can get through to him.