Fine, Let's Talk About This Henry Ruggs DUI

This story fucking sucks. There’s no funny angle to write. There is nothing particularly nuanced to add to this story. Las Vegas wide receiver Henry Ruggs was drinking and driving and someone lost their life. This is awful. But there have been some extreme takes so I suppose I’ll add some words to the discussion.

Metro police confirms Henry Ruggs was involved in crash. Says he stayed on the scene and had non-life threatening injuries. Will be charged with DUI resulting in death. #vegas #raiders pic.twitter.com/zmbkYi5SoL

— Mick Akers (@mickakers) November 2, 2021

Las Vegas police say the person who died in the Henry Ruggs crash is a 23-year-old female. Ruggs was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when he collided with her car, which burst into flames, leaving her trapped.

Ruggs was with his girlfriend and she sustained serious injuries. pic.twitter.com/6RkSUO0sbm

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 2, 2021

It looks like Ruggs will be serving prison time no matter what. Nevada doesn’t offer probation for DUIs that result and death so he’s looking at anywhere between 2 and 20 years.

Ruggs was the 12th overall pick in 2020 out of Alabama. He averaged 18.1 yards per reception in his final year in college. You could just close your eyes and chuck the ball as far as possible. Ruggs would be down the field ready to snag it. He was one of the fastest players in the entire league and could’ve gone down as one of the greatest if he had pretty much any other quarterback besides Derek Carr.

I recognize it’s tough to have sympathy for the man who got blackout drunk and killed someone with his car but perhaps the mob can take a step back and breathe before they demand prison time for a 22-year-old who made an atrocious mistake.

Again, don’t want to take the responsibility off the man behind the wheel but if you’ve ever been drunk before then you know you’re not quite making your best decisions. Million-dollar assets for bajillion dollar corporations should have drivers waiting for them at the door when they leave the bar/club at night.

No NFL employee should be driving themselves to or from any event where there’s alcohol present. What Henry Ruggs did was terrible but it’s done. We can’t change it. But we can prevent further incidents like this if drivers are just on deck for these players. Especially the younger ones who are making real money for the first time in their life and feel indestructible

Ruggs is one of the most explosive players in the NFL. We should be hoping for his sober return to the sport and that this never happens again. At the same time, he was so drunk out of his mind that he killed someone so I wouldn’t be against him and Deshaun Watson sharing a bunk bed.

But I briefly want to address some of the weird comments I saw about Las Vegas sports teams and the inevitability of these events occurring because of how popular the night life full of incentives to get drunk as hell.

Most of the DUIs that take place in this country happen in rural areas.

Here are the top 5 DUI states:

North Dakota
Wyoming
South Dakota
Wisconsin
Alaska

It is often the towns where there aren’t nearly as many rideshare options as there are in major cities like Las Vegas which again brings me back to the fact that the NFL should be providing these players with drivers because there are plenty of them in these major cities.

I guess my point is, let’s never miss an opportunity to shit on the NFL. This is also their fault and we should be marching with pitchforks towards their HQ.