The Washington Football Team announced Friday evening that they would be releasing RB Derrius Guice. The release came following Guice turning himself in on domestic violence charges Friday afternoon. He faces one count of strangulation, 3 counts of assault and battery and one count of destruction property, per Ian Rapoport.
Formally Guice was at LSU and was a 2018 second round pick that had first round talent. Derrius came into the league with teams already questioning his character due to college incidents, causing his draft day slide. Washington fans won’t get to see that talent ever amount to anything thanks to his latest incident.
Washington Head Coach, Ron Rivera, made a statement regarding the release:
https://twitter.com/WashingtonNFL/status/1291870205224919041
Although the running back showed signs of perseverance after suffering a torn ACL (missed 2018 season), a meniscus tear and sprained MCL (2019), his character got the best of him.
In 2019 Guice appeared in 5 games and had 245 rushing yards along with 3 total touchdowns. The running-backs’ tenure in Washington was certainly a forgetful one. With likely no other team giving a person like Derrius another shot, these will probably be his final career stats.
Where Does Washington Go From Here?
Despite losing their young back, Washington still maintains somewhat of a stable backfield. Adrian Peterson headlines the backfield in Washington and is the clear-cut starter Week 1. In his two seasons in Washington, Peterson has ran for a total of 1,940 yards to go with 13 total touchdowns.
They also drafted running-back Antonio Gibson from Memphis in the third round of the 2020 draft. With Guice now out of the picture, Gibson has the opportunity to learn from one of the best to ever play his position and get some quality playing time. The team also signed veteran running-back, Peyton Barber who was the starter in Tampa Bay in 2019. Even if Guice were to have stayed out of trouble, it would’ve been a very crowded backfield.
Adrian Peterson also spoke Friday (before the news) on NFL Networks’ “Good Morning Football”, and said he’s determined to win a Super Bowl and to break Emmitt Smith’s all time rushing record. Peterson is exactly 4,140 rushing yards away from the rushing title. He also followed up by saying:
“I look forward to playing a couple more years, 3-4 more years, who knows, depending on how my body is feeling.”
Peterson is now 35 years of age and is not getting any younger but the value he presents in the running-back room is uncharted. His surprising production has also kept him around longer than most backs could ever dream of.
It has been an interesting summer in Washington from top to bottom, to say the least. For the teams’ sake, they hope that the off-field distractions end here.