Dominic Rhodes is a Drunk Driver

Dominic Rhodes was arrested on a drunk driving charge today and it's probably going to hurt the amount of money he's going to be offered once he becomes a free agent on the open market. The NFL might even suspend him for a few games under the leagues substance abuse policy. Less then a month after winning the Superbowl and in my opinion getting snubbed for the MVP award, he seriously tarnishes his image with this drunk driving arrest.

It will be interesting to see what kind of deal he gets once he hits this year's free agency pool, as it is becoming more and more apparent that the Colts have no intentions of resigning him. They have Joseph Addai, who rushed for over 1,000 yards as a rookie, and he is a lock to be the feature back for them for years to come. Dominic Rhodes is the odd man out and clearly was not thinking when he got behind the wheel intoxicated.

Teams don't like negative publicity on their team or in the locker room. Dominic Rhodes probably lost millions of dollars on this one and he has to be kicking himself. I'm almost positive that a team hungry for a running back is going to take a chance on him, but they have some serious ammunition to use in the negotiations against him. It would be different it wasn't a contract year for him, it probably wouldn't cost him millions at least. He's also 28 years old and these days thats pretty old for a running back, typically they say 30 is the age when running backs skills start diminishing, unless your name is Tiki Barber or Curtis Martin of course.

These NFL players and celebrities need to realize that even if you win the Superbowl, an oscar or a grammy, the police will arrest them for driving drunk. Nobody is above the law and no matter how much money you have, to the police you are still a drunk driver or a criminal. Money, fortune and fame does not mean you are above the law and can speed down the highway drunk. It would have been even worse if he crashed and hurt himself or somebody else. It happens everyday across America.

Dominic Rhodes probably will learn his lesson from this one, the loss of millions of dollars in contract money and his license should send a strong enough message. It should also send a message to other celebrities too like that one commercial on television says "If you drive drunk, you will get caught, your license will be taken away and you will get arrested."

Sources:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aY4DUapVaCDw&refer=home