Titans Might Want to Pack it in with Pacman Jones

Any sports fan not living under a rock in Tennessee knows very well the legal troubles of talented Tennessee Titans cornerback/kick returner Adam "Pacman" Jones. Since being drafted in 2005, he's been the subject of police interest TEN (10) times (the latest being the fracas at a Las Vegas strip club where a bouncer was shot and ended up paralyzed), but maybe they should change his name to Teflon, because criminal charges never seem to stick to him any better than would-be tacklers do on the football field.

I'll admit that I'm torn about this, especially being a criminal defense attorney right now and fully believing in the presumption of innocence. Also, yes, I'm a football fan, and on the field, Pacman has bloomed into an electric playmaker as a DB and returning kicks for the Titans...he simply makes them a better, friskier, more dangerous team. That said, I don't check my brain or common sense at the door, and while I know that he's made some very poor choices in terms of his actions and in who he chooses to hang out with, there's not this much consistent smoke without there being a fire somewhere that he caused. Plus, I'm not encouraged that he didn't bother to tell the Titans organization about obstruction of justice and other charges in Georgia from last year. The charges aren't all that serious, but lack of enough integrity and manhood to communicate with the franchise that drafted you and defends your sorry, immature tail when you mess up is much more serious.

ESPN's Greg Garber writes about as fair and balanced a story about the crossroads in life Pacman currently faces as you'll read anywhere, so read it all and draw your own conclusions. I'm glad I don't have to make the decision, but at gunpoint, I'd say I would try to trade Pacman first, but if I couldn't trade him, I'd bite the salary cap bullet and release him...an example has to be set somehwere, and this is as good a place as any.