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Fansided

Why San Francisco 49ers needed to release Ray McDonald

By Brian Spaen

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On Wednesday, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald was released from the team after another sexual assault allegation. Despite getting another chance, McDonald instead made the 49ers look bad. The team had to pick the only option left on the table.

Late Tuesday night, a local hospital alerted police that they had a woman being treated for abuse. After the allegation was on McDonald, detectives were granted a search warrant to look at his residence.

Despite no charges or arrests made yet in the second allegation, there didn’t need to be. 49ers general manager Trent Baalke made the decision to cut McDonald after the player showed “a pattern of poor behavior.” His statement from ESPN:

"“This is about a pattern of poor behavior,” 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said Wednesday. “We expect a lot from our players, hold them accountable for their actions.”"

McDonald looked like he was in the clear just a month ago and the 49ers’ choice to play him was vindicated. Police didn’t file charges against the defensive lineman after a domestic violence investigation was complete from his arrest on August 31st.

Despite other teams moving troubled players like Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson for their alleged crimes, McDonald continued to play for the 49ers. Baalke and head coach Jim Harbaugh defended the situation multiple times, repeating themselves over and over that they were waiting for the process to play out.

The 49ers backed up their defensive lineman. And what does McDonald do in return? Gets himself caught up in another serious issue. There was nothing that San Francisco could do to defend the player any longer — he had to be cut.

It doesn’t matter if McDonald is never charged in these latest events. What matters is McDonald violated a plan laid out by the 49ers organization on his path to redemption. Despite not being charged, it’s another situation that he could have avoided being in. Listen to Baalke closely on his decision — it wasn’t his actions per say, but repeated mistakes.

"“If this was one incident, we would be standing up here talking about due process, like we have multiple times, in multiple other situations,” Baalke said [to ESPN]. “But this is just a pattern of decision-making that Ray has demonstrated over a period of time that, once again, it’s no longer going to be tolerated.”"

NFL players need to be on high alert. Any sort of violence against women is not tolerated and shouldn’t be. Regardless of how the situation developed and who started what, players need to avoid being in the situation completely. That’s what McDonald couldn’t do, and it’s why he’s no longer with the 49ers.

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