David Rich, the agent for former Cowboys receiver Lucky Whitehead, says Whitehead is so upset that he was cut after being wrongfully accused of shoplifting that he now wouldn’t return to the Cowboys even if they wanted him back.
Asked this morning on PFT Live whether Whitehead would come back if the Cowboys asked him to, Rich answered, “No.” Rich explained that while Whitehead loved his experience in Dallas, he’s hurt that the Cowboys didn’t believe him when he explained that the report of his arrest was false. Even when the police confirmed that they arrested another man who had given them Whitehead’s name, the Cowboys wouldn’t backtrack on their decision to let him go.
“I can’t speak for Lucky, we’d have to have a conversation about it because he loved being a Cowboy so much. I can’t put into words — this dude loved it, loved it as much as I’ve ever had a player love an organization. Loved it,” Rich said. “This guy was arguably the most popular player on the team, which is interesting to have this happen to him, but I don’t think so. . . . They basically sat across the table, eye to eye, man to man, and he said, ‘I need you to believe me, coach.’ And they said, ‘We think you’re a liar.'”
Rich said he can understand why the Cowboys felt that they had to take a stand when the report came out that Whitehead was arrested, but once they were able to document through travel records that Whitehead was more than 1,000 miles away at the time of his alleged shoplifting arrest, the Cowboys should have reconsidered. But Rich also said he thinks the decision to cut Whitehead was at least as much about on-field issues as off-field issues.
“I think they’d already moved on from Lucky. I think they had already decided it was too much of a distraction, I think they drafted Ryan Switzer . . . who does a lot of the things Lucky does, so they just decided he was unnecessary,” Rich said.
As for whether Whitehead will get claimed on waivers today, Rich said, “I can’t see why any team with a 90-man roster right now that needs return help wouldn’t pick him up.”