Cardinals to vet Washington's case for rejoining team
The NFL may have recently reinstated linebacker Daryl Washington, but his former team is reviewing whether he deserves a spot on the club.
Washington has been cleared to rejoin the Arizona Cardinals for offseason meetings and conditioning work, but the Cards have yet to give him the all-clear.
Washington hasn't played in the league since 2013 due to multiple substance-abuse violations.
"We promptly said, 'This can wait. We're going to focus on the draft,' which we did. ... Really, this week is the week that we're focusing on it," Cardinals president and owner Michael Bidwill said on SiriusXM radio, according to Nick Shook of NFL.com.
"I don't see this as a 30-minute meeting. There's a lot that needs to go into this in our analysis, because we haven't seen him in three years," Bidwill added. "There's a lot more process that we're going to go through just than having a meeting. I think everybody's got to be comfortable to put him back on the field. We're going to go through our process and hopefully have an answer one way or the other here soon."
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had previously stated the team had to hold an "educational briefing" with Washington before making a determination on his status with the team.
Washington recorded 75 tackles and three sacks in 12 games in 2013.