NFL Network suspends Willie McGinest pending investigation of criminal charges

Posted by Mike Florio on December 19, 2022, 6:47 PM EST
(Boston, MA - 2/23/16) Former Patriots player Willie McGinest talks about Uber in Boston's historically underserved communities at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury, Tuesday, February 23, 2016. Staff photo by Angela Rowlings.
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Patriots Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Willie McGinest was arrested Monday for assault with a deadly weapon, based on a December 9 attack that was caught on video.

Based on the allegations, NFL Network has removed McGinest from the air.

“We are aware of the incident and the video, which is disturbing. Willie McGinest will not appear on NFL Network while we review the matter,” a spokesman for NFL Network told PFT via email.

A first-round pick of the Patriots in 1994, McGinest played in New England through 2005. He spent his final three seasons with the Browns.

McGinest was arrested on Monday and released on $30,000 bond.

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31 responses to “NFL Network suspends Willie McGinest pending investigation of criminal charges”

  6. Not 100% sure but it looks like Willie was finally releasing that pent up anger from being sent to Cleveland for 3 years….besides that guy probably parked in Willies spot & NOBODY does that to Willie, NOBODY!!!

  8. I don’t care for the Pats in the least but I’ll wait for the details.

    I remember thinking Cain Velasquez was a maniac…….until I heard the details and realized Velasquez is a hero.

  10. Willie & his two companions seemed to have planned/coordinated the attack. Not sure the motivation, but the consequences will be loss of his analyst job, huge civil law suit, criminal conviction of a felony assault w/prison time. The tape is compelling. I wish we had the audio, but I can’t find that.

  12. Guys should be Fired and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. No questions asked. Anything else is unacceptable. Video has all the evidence. Sickening.

  13. 51 years old and decides to toss his career away by going gangster in an upscale restaurant.
    I’m sure he’s going to tell us that he had a good reason to do it.

  18. It doesn’t matter what his reasons are for doing this. It’s unacceptable. I always thought that he had his act together. I guess I was wrong.

  19. Lost all respect for this man. He’s like 6′ 5″ and should be more than capable of taking care of his business without the help of THREE other men. Lots of respect for the guy who took it though. He hardly looked any worse for the wear.

  20. Obviously there’s something really wrong with this guy. Funny how they can hide it all these years.

  21. Disappointed. He was one of my faves. Good reminder we don’t really know any of these guys.

  23. Hes busted. He approached the person, addressed him, then threw the punch. Regardless of what his beef was with the guy, regardless of what might have taken place before the video, that’s still an assault. The person was not presenting any threat to his or anyone else’s life at that moment so there is no legal justification for approaching and being the aggressor. He’s going to lose badly in court.

  24. He’s always been fake. I remember he was doing an analysis / commentary of upcoming game and he had mentioned a Steelers offensive lineman being a key guy in the game. Only problem is they guy was out for the year with injury, and it was for weeks already at that time. I knew what he was after hearing that short arm effort.

  27. GOOD! So sick of seeing him. NFLN gets the worst analysts/hosts the last several years.

  30. You can’t just beat a guy’s face in with a Perrier bottle with a mob of your friends holding him and punching him. McGinest is lucky someone didn’t shoot him dead.

  31. Unless the victim of the assault molested his child or something of that magnitude, there is absolutely no excuse for this. McGinest can do his tough guy act in a penitentiary and see how that flies.

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