Terrion Arnold is reportedly signing with the Seahawks even though he is facing eight felony charges. Kidnapping, armed robbery, allegedly orchestrating the abduction and beating of three men. A million dollar bail. A court date in October. And the Seahawks looked at all of that and said, yeah, let’s sign him to a one year deal.

I need to say this clearly before I go any further. I despise the Seahawks. Division rival, hate playing them, hate everything about them. You can thank the Legion of Boom for that. But this isn’t a Seahawks problem. This is an every team in the NFL problem, and that includes my team. That includes the 49ers. If San Francisco did this exact same thing tomorrow, I’d be writing this exact same article.

Here’s my actual issue with all of this. If you or I had eight felony charges sitting over our heads right now, kidnapping and armed robbery charges, do you think we’d be getting hired anywhere? Not a chance. Most normal people in that situation lose their job, if they even had one to lose. They don’t get a second company lining up to bring them on. Their life, in a very real and immediate way, gets put on hold or outright ruined while the legal process plays out. That’s just how it works for regular people.

But an NFL team looks at a talented 23 year old cornerback facing charges that could put him in prison for a long, long time, and they say, we’ll take the risk. Not because they believe in second chances in some noble sense. Because he can play corner at a high level, and that talent is worth the headache to them.

I get that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I actually believe that, genuinely, that’s how our system is supposed to work. His attorney is saying he’ll deny all of it. Fine. But there’s a difference between the legal system extending due process to someone, and a business willingly signing someone who’s currently facing charges this serious while the case is still working its way through the courts. Those are two very different things. The court can wait for a verdict. A team doesn’t have to hand someone a contract and a bunch of money while that verdict is still pending.

These teams are role models whether they want to be or not. Kids wear these jerseys. Kids watch these games and learn what gets rewarded and what doesn’t. And right now the lesson being taught is that if you’re good enough at football, felony charges are just a speed bump on the way to your next contract. I expect more than that from these organizations. I expect them to actually think about what they’re modeling, not just what’s on the stat sheet.

Again, I want to be clear, this isn’t me picking on the Seahawks because I can’t stand them. This is on every team that would do this, mine included. Talent should never be the thing that makes felony charges negotiable.