Welcome to the NFL Offseason, with Arrests Piling and Scandals All Around

In Boston Wednesday afternoon, duck boats chugged along Boylston Street. The New England Patriots climbed into those curious contraptions for their Super Bowl victory parade, and not even the frigid temperatures could keep Bill Belichick from smiling in an apparent moment of weakness.

Oh yes, there was jubilation and crowd-pleasing hip gyrations from tight end Rob Gronkowski, and there were indeed signs lining the street calling for Belichick to run for president.

But another sign reminded us that scandal and questions still linger over Sunday's events.

Welcome to your 2015 NFL offseason, which feels very much like the 2014 NFL season.

The Super Bowl is still large in our collective rearview, yet basking in its glow requires overlooking a still-brewing scandal and league investigation. But that pales in significance to the off-field missteps so far, which include animal cruelty, assault, a possible domestic incident, multiple drug charges, a recently inducted Hall of Famer arrested on prostitution charges and a generational talent at wide receiver whom the league's suspended for one year (again).

This is when you consult your calendar several times to confirm that, yes, it’s day three of the offseason.

The list of decisions that range from awful to moronic is growing fast while the confetti falls in Boston, and it’s growing after a season when the actual games were too often a secondary concern. There was always something grimy lingering in the background, and now early this offseason a landslide of filth has come tumbling down.

Wednesday arrests for three players were announced, and they all played roles of varying significance on playoff teams. Chief among them was Indianapolis Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, who now famously ignited the Deflategate mess by doing his job. He intercepted a Tom Brady pass during the AFC Championship Game and brought a flawed football back to his sideline.

Jackson finished sixth in the NFL during the regular season with 140 tackles, and even more impressively he was second among his position peers in run stops with 45, according to Pro Football Focus.

He was a core defender for a team that advanced to the NFL’s final four. And Tuesday night in Washington, Jackson’s thought process while solving an apparent dispute over a parking space was “I should punch this pizza delivery guy right in the kisser,” as reported by Jennifer Donelan of The Associated Press (via WJLA.com).

Perhaps there’s more to this incident that will trickle out. What I do know, however, is that nothing about assaulting a pizza delivery guy reflects any logic or clear thinking.

It’s a remarkably boneheaded act, though it’s difficult to determine if Jackson is the league’s bonehead union leader.

There are just far too many good candidates, like quickly emerging Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion. In a contract year, he led Packers defensive linemen in tackles per snap (one every 8.4) and was fourth in pressures per snap (one every 38.9), as noted by Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

He did all that even while being on the field for only 50.9 percent of Green Bay’s defensive snaps, per PFF.

He likely also leads the Packers in another statistic that isn’t recorded in official league box scores: marijuana possession.

That’s 357 grams of marijuana, per Dunne, and in Florida—Guion’s home state and where police arrested him—any possession is subject to jail time. However, the severity of the charge varies with the quantity, and anything more than 20 grams is a felony and comes with a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Guion’s possession is far past garden variety, and though societal perception of marijuana is shifting, the laws of his particular land still have penalties against it. So, maybe don’t carry around 17 times more than the threshold for a lesser misdemeanor charge?

Of course, Guion didn’t stop there, as he was also brought in with a firearms charge. In his vehicle, police found a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and $190,028. Guion was set to make far more than that as a 27-year-old tackle when he either hit the open market or the Packers re-signed him to a lucrative extension.

Contract discussions with the Packers were ongoing, according to ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky. Now? A player being hostile with authorities to protect the contents of his mysterious bag doesn’t really jibe with the Packers’ small-town sensibilities.

Football appears to be merely a job for Guion, and the same may be true for Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle.

Randle made limited contributions during the 2014 season (343 yards rushing at an average of 6.7 per carry and three touchdowns), but he is possibly set to ascend the depth chart if Dallas opts against giving pending free agent DeMarco Murray the cash dump he rightfully deserves.

Now that future is cloudy after Randle was arrested for the second time in four months Wednesday morning. In October, his poor judgement led to senseless, though harmless, stupidity when he stole underwear and cologne from a Dallas-area mall.

This time Randle was still senseless, but harmless doesn’t apply anymore.

He was charged with marijuana possession when police arrived at a Wichita, Kansas, hotel room. But they weren’t there for your standard drug charge. Randle, 23, was in the room with a 22-year-old woman (the mother of his child), and police officers were present because of a domestic violence call, according to Jay Harrell of KSN.com.

Hannah VanHuss Davis of KWCH noted the alleged victim claimed there was a handgun involved:

Police didn't make a domestic violence arrest or find a weapon, though a Wichita Police spokesperson told Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk an investigation will continue.

It’s been almost exactly one year since Ray Rice assaulted his then-fiance, and the NFL’s repeated negligence while handling his punishment still hovered as a dark stain during commissioner Roger Goodell’s Super Bowl week press conference. And in March, teams will begin bidding for the services of soon-to-be free agent Greg Hardy, but only after the trial for his alleged vicious assault on an ex-girlfriend concludes.

Randle’s mere mention as part of a domestic violence call comes at a time when the league is acutely aware of appearances and has a well-earned reputation for disregarding the serious nature of such crimes.

Harry How/Getty Images

The matter of domestic violence won’t fade for the NFL, as it’s been kept alive by Hardy and now possibly Randle. Wednesday's arrests come during the same week Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel signed up for rehab, the NFL suspended his teammate Josh Gordon for another season, and former Ravens defensive tackle Terrence Cody was indicted on 15 charges, most of which are tied to animal cruelty.

It all adds up to three arrests and a suspension since the 2014-15 season officially ended. The on-field presence of a sludge-like substance remains prevalent, too, as owners and general managers show blatant disregard for integrity and (gasp!) the shield.

Belichick and his Patriots are the main targets right now of those who still blindly believe the NFL is filled with dutiful coaches who consult the rulebook weekly. If the team is at fault for Deflategate, the league will punish the Patriots accordingly, but it’ll be just another infraction in an outfit filled with teams that approach a line of decency and then sprint far past it.

The Patriots aren’t remotely alone in that regard. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has admitted his team pumped artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome over the past two seasons. An investigation continues there, too, though it seems that in addition to being awful in many respects on the field, the Falcons are also horrible at cheating.

We’re not quite done yet. Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer found another use for “gate,” this time spawning the creation of “textgate.”

For reasons only Farmer can comprehend, he was reportedly the “high-ranking personnel member” texting the team’s sideline from the press box during games this season, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

That could lead to a suspension for Farmer as well as a fine, and most importantly the loss of a draft pick this spring. He certainly has no use for that pick with Cleveland’s quarterback situation in question, Gordon suspended and tight end Jordan Cameron likely set to depart as a free agent.

During the 2014 offseason, there were 28 arrests league-wide, according to Business Insider, and 27 in 2013. From any angle, three bookings after three days isn't a good look.

There will always be flawed individuals in the NFL. The league is filled with rich young men who often feel entitled but are humans nonetheless, and like the general population they’ll run afoul of the law. There are those with deep character concerns among the lawbreakers, and others who simply had a momentary lack of judgement.

The NFL is also brimming with owners who need that sweet playoff cash and coaches who need to stay employed. Rules will always be bent and shattered.

That’s your NFL, and right now it’s all happening at once.