Donte Stallworth: Can the Fallen Hero Find His Inner Phoenix?

There are plenty of success stories about people rising from the ashes to make a name for themselves.

For all those stories, there are the fallen heroes whom we either pity or loathe.

Donte Stallworth definitely falls into the latter category.

Rewind about a year and a half ago. The Patriots are on a tear through the entire NFL, and have won 18 games straight in the season.

Stallworth is lined up opposite Randy Moss in Super Bowl XLII. He converts a big 3rd-and-13 for the Patriots in the second quarter, gaining 18 yards and moving the Patriots up to the 26. Things are looking great, as the Patriots are ahead and have the ball with momentum.

He only reeled in three catches that night, as the Patriots lost to the Giants 17-14.

From there, it just gets ugly.

Stallworth was picked up in free agency by the Cleveland Browns, who were coming off of one of their most promising campaigns since returning to the NFL in 1999. The Browns’ passing game figured to be potent with Derek Anderson spreading the ball to Stallworth, Braylon Edwards, and Kellen Winslow. Their aerial attack never got off the ground, though, as Anderson couldn’t duplicate his success from the previous season and the Browns finished a messy 4-12.

On March 14, 2009, Stallworth hit rock bottom—and Mario Reyes—hard.

Intoxicated above the legal limit, Stallworth got behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and, in his incoherence, struck Reyes hard enough to kill him.

The accident tragically ended Reyes’ life. It was the hit to Reyes, though, that subsequently caused Stallworth’s downfall.

After he served 24 days of his 30-day sentence, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed down the decision to suspend him for a single season.

Stallworth’s has become one of the sadder stories in the league today—while it’s hard to feel remorse for someone who endangered himself and others by driving drunk, it’s incredibly sad that his life was sent down the toilet by one bad decision.

Hopefully, that will be the worst decision he ever makes in his life.

Supposedly, he’ll be reinstated at the conclusion of next season: The Super Bowl.

It could be tough for him to find a home after his lousy decision, but hey, if Michael Vick could do it, so can Stallworth, right?

Incidentally, it will be the two year anniversary of the supposed start of this downward process. Perhaps Stallworth can mark the occasion by becoming the phoenix who rises from the ashes, and make a new name for himself in the process.