The question marks once surrounding a number of John Elway’s draft moves have increasingly been answered with rave reviews recently.
Hey, that’s what happens when a number of those draft picks contribute heavily in securing a Lombardi Trophy.
But one former Elway draft pick continues to garner headlines for all the wrong reasons, and that sad trend continued Monday when Wisconsin TV station WKOW reported that 2013 second-round pick Montee Ball was arrested for a bail violation after being seen drinking in a Whitewater, Wis., bar. He was later released on a $1,000 bond.
It was the second arrest in a little more than two months for the 25-year-old Ball, who is facing charges in two separate domestic-violence accusations by different women. The first resulted in his arrest Feb. 5 – two days before his former teammates took the field in Super Bowl 50 – at a Madison, Wis., hotel where he was accused of battering his girlfriend.
That incident led to the March filing of a criminal complaint by another woman who said she was abused by Ball during a previous relationship in June 2014.
In all, the ugly charges from the two cases include strangulation, suffocation, substantial battery with the intent to do bodily harm and disorderly conduct.
Uh, yikes.
This goes far beyond blown draft picks or football futures as Ball is clearly is caught up in a downward life spiral and could soon be behind bars instead of drinking at one and violating his bail.
Ball, who rushed for 731 yards in 21 games over the 2013 and ’14 seasons in Denver, was released by the Broncos last August. He was signed to the Patriots’ practice squad during the regular season but was released in February at the time of his initial arrest.
An All-American at Wisconsin, Ball ranks third on the NCAA all-time touchdowns’ list with 83.
Praying 4 my brother MB man ??????
— Cj Anderson (@cjandersonb22) April 11, 2016
As evidenced by that tweet, Ball still has plenty of friends and supporters in Orange & Blue, and it’s hard to reconcile the ugly accusation and the mugshot above with the young player who was reduced to child-like giddiness when meeting childhood hero Terrell Davis at training camp only a couple summers ago.
Here’s hoping it’s not too late for Ball to turn things around – a future in the NFL or not.
