Following Chad Wheeler's Heinous Act, Seahawks Inexplicable Silence is Deafening
Chad Wheeler is a monster. There's no other word that can be used to describe him.
Only a monster would ask his girlfriend to bow to him and then upon her refusal decide to strangle her until she became unconscious. Only a monster would start eating dinner under the presumption his girlfriend is dead and then react, "Wow, you're still alive." Only a monster would try to pick the lock on the bathroom door to instill further fear as their victim attempts to call 911 for help.
Based on accusations - and now jarring, horrific evidence via images presented on Twitter by the abused girlfriend - Wheeler did all of these things last Friday. Less than 24 hours later, he was arrested and brought to the King County Jail, where he remained on $400,000 bail before being released on Tuesday.
When the arrest became public knowledge on Monday, the Seahawks - the team Wheeler has played for each of the past two seasons - released a blanket statement saying, "We're aware of the situation and still gathering information."
Less than 48 hours later, however, the Seahawks shouldn't need any more time to gather information. They've seen the damage Wheeler inflicted on his victim. They've seen the police report. The time for doing due diligence has come and gone.
At the very least, the Seahawks need to release a firm statement denouncing and condemning Wheeler's actions. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. That would be the bare minimum as far as an acceptable response.
Most importantly, it would also be nice for Pete Carroll and/or John Schneider, who have never had issue with signing or drafting players who were involved in domestic violence incidents, to actually speak out against such sickening behavior. In the past, Seattle's brain trust has chosen the silent approach in such situations, which isn't anywhere close to acceptable and suggests they're okay with such conduct.
Unfortunately, that seems to be how the NFL as a whole operates. Talented players such as Tyreek Hill with the Chiefs and Kareem Hunt with the Browns receive multiple chances despite their well-documented domestic violence history. Serve a suspension, then they'll just try to sweep your actions under the rug in the name of winning football games.
Given circumstances, Wheeler has almost certainly played his last snap in the NFL, whether for the Seahawks or anyone else. Based on the graphic evidence coming to light, he's likely facing significant time behind bars once his case is settled and that's exactly where a monster of his classification belongs.
Wheeler is scheduled to become a restricted free agent in March and it remains unclear whether or not he's currently on the roster. Seattle might not be able to technically release him and could easily just take the high road by not tendering him, which appears to be the direction the organization is choosing to take with hopes the situation will eventually just go away.
But right now, that's simply not good enough. Fans should demand much more from Carroll, Schneider, and other key decision makers who employed Wheeler. For an organization that considers itself progressive and prides itself on supporting human rights issues, their prolonged silence is deafening.
