August 08, 2020
On Friday, there was bad news for a pair of players on the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants. One has already been released, and the other is likely to follow.
The Washington Football Team announced that they have released RB Derrius Guice after multiple alleged domestic violence incidents.
We have released RB Derrius Guice pic.twitter.com/L3mOP8GCIX
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) August 7, 2020
Guice entered the NFL as an ultra-talented back out of LSU, who fell in the 2018 NFL Draft because of character concerns. At 59th overall, many thought of him as a steal. Oftentimes when it seems too good to be true, it's just that.
Through his first two seasons in the league, Guice played in just five games, carrying only 42 times, due to a string of serious knee injuries:
• August 9, 2018: He tore his left ACL in Week 1 of the preseason, and missed the entire 2018 season.
• September 8, 2019: In Week 1 of the regular season, he tore the meniscus in his right knee. He went on IR and missed 9 games.
• December 8, 2019: He returned from IR, had one huge game against the Panthers, and then suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee against the Packers, ending his season.
When he was actually on the field, Guice showed glimpses that he could be a star running back, if he could stay healthy and out of trouble. I mean, look at the stiff arm on the run at the 1:38 mark here:
With Guice now gone, here are the Washington Football Team's remaining running backs, and their 2019 stats:
| WFT RBs | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Adrian Peterson | 211 | 898 | 4.3 | 5 |
| JD McKissic (with Lions) | 38 | 205 | 5.4 | 0 |
| Peyton Barber (with Buccaneers) | 154 | 470 | 3.1 | 6 |
To note, McKissic caught 34 passes for Detroit in 2019.
The Washington Football Team also selected Antonio Gibson in the third round (66th overall) in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Bryce Love in the fourth round (112th overall) in the 2019 draft. Love "redshirted" as a rookie in 2019 after tearing an ACL in his final college game in December of 2018.
On a local note, there were a slew of reports of some bad pre-draft interviews between Guice and the Eagles, including a "shouting match," which both Guice and the Eagles denied.
In May, Baker turned himself in to police in Miramar, Florida, after an arrest warrant was issued for him for eight felonies, stemming from an incident that occurred in which Baker was accused of committing armed robbery with a firearm, as well as aggravated assault with a firearm. He had not yet been charged.
On Friday, charges finally came for four counts of robbery with a firearm, but not for aggravated assault. If convicted, Baker faces a mandatory sentence of 10 years -- and up to life -- in prison.
Baker was the third of three Giants first round picks in 2019. The Giants traded fourth- and fifth-round picks to move up from pick No. 37 to pick No. 30 to select him. As a rookie, Baker played in all 16 games, starting 15, and he struggled, to say the least. According to pro-football-reference, opposing quarterbacks had a 116.2 quarterback rating when they targeted Baker, completing 54 of 88 pass attempts (61.4%) for 850 yards (9.7 YPA) and 6 TDs.
Still, the Giants needed Baker to pan out, and it's probably only a matter of when (not if) they release him.
The Giants also lost third-year cornerback Sam Beal, who opted out of the 2020 season. They are left at corner with 2020 free agent acquisition James Bradberry, 2019 sixth-round pick Corey Ballantine, slot corner Grant Haley, 2020 fourth-round pick Darnay Holmes, and 2020 seventh-round pick Chris Williamson, among some other undrafted guys.
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