Hargrove’s second chance seems just like his first

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, August 08, 2007  |  Comments( 42 )

Buffalo Bills
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You hire the guy who's done time to run your cash register or the recovering alcoholic to be your bartender in the hope that people have enough sense to learn from one astoundingly stupid mistake. Or maybe you don't, and shouldn't.

Buffalo Bills defensive end Anthony Hargrove has shaken fans' faith in humanity by getting himself arrested in Rochester over the weekend when he should have been studying his playbook, finishing off the new Harry Potter tale or, how's this for novel, snoozing after midnight. The accommodations at St. John Fisher College may not be luxurious, but let's assume they're plusher than the cell Hargrove ended up occupying that evening as he once again humiliated his employer.

If the charges are true, Hargrove had one busy night. Around 2 a.m., police showed up to the Rochester club where he chose to spend his evening; they were responding to some form of melee. The 23-year-old, who had been engaged in an argument with a bouncer, allegedly then shoved a responding policeman in the face, a move for which he would be assessed a 15-yard penalty at work. He now faces a handful of misdemeanor charges along with a lack of respect from fans who don't want their team's players breaking the eyeglasses of cops, as Hargrove supposedly did as a result of the shoving.

This isn't his first troubling incident, either. Hargrove is of course the same guy who was exiled from St. Louis after he missed two practices without an excuse last year. He irresponsibly created an embarrassing incident for the Rams, but everyone deserves another chance after messing up once, right? Unfortunately, now the mess he caused last year by vanishing is looking more like a tendency than an exception.

Hargrove's misadventures could also be damaging to the Bills from a football viewpoint. He was an exciting rotational player after he was traded to the Bills during the 2006 season. Hargrove had 24 tackles and 1½ sacks over his partial season, numbers which provide a decent snapshot of his useful play.

What can't be seen from his stat line is the fact he brought enthusiasm to a young defense. Hargrove's explosiveness at the snap factored with his considerable size made him a nice asset to cycle into the game, especially bearing in mind that he is capable of playing defensive tackle on passing plays. That would have been an especially useful talent now that Darwin Walker's rushing skills will officially not be available to the Bills, but Hargrove's advantageously large build (6-foot-3, 271 pounds) might not be an issue if the staff or the league is fed up with his nonsense.

When the already-suspended Tank Johnson can lose his job because he was suspected, and ultimately cleared, of driving impaired, the rest of the NFL's players should be on red alert and use their company manners nonstop. On top of that, acting scandalously in Rochester was rather ungracious of Hargrove. Already a guest in Buffalo, at training camp he is supposed to represent a team that is attempting to market itself as a regional franchise. Unless his plan was to sign autographs in the drunk tank, Hargrove isn't helping efforts to boost interest in the Bills outside of Erie County.

The defender's collection of misdemeanors also isn't exactly what should be expected from a player at training camp. Coach Dick Jauron doesn't treat time at St. John Fisher as a boot camp, but his leniency relies on the assumption that giving men some autonomy over their own lives means they'll behave like adults. Instead, the one player who should have been driving orphans to church on his off day spent his early Sunday in jail.

Maybe worst of all, Hargrove distracted everyone from what should have been the only Bills story of the weekend, namely Thurman Thomas' enshrinement among football's immortals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The focus of all Bills-related talk should have been toward an all-time great back who was perhaps the most versatile, motivated athlete in team history, but instead some discussion time was wasted dissecting police reports and Hargrove's bail amount ($1,100, for the record).

It's possible that the charges may fall apart, and people have to remain open to that possibility, but at the very least Hargrove put himself in a regretful and potentially troublesome situation. The worst-case scenario is that Hargrove used his second chance to prove that his first mistake wasn't a fluke. Defensive end C.J. Ah You, Buffalo's final choice in April's draft, may have just backed into a roster spot because of the remarkably irresponsible actions of Anthony Hargrove, a decent player who may also be a repeat offender.
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