Just 11 games into his third season, Rolando McClain is on the verge of being released according to a report by ESPN’s John Clayton. As of Thursday afternoon McClain was still on the roster. He missed practice with what Dennis Allen called “team-related issues” on Wednesday and was asked to stay home on Thursday.
McClain took to his Facebook page to announce his unofficial release and proceeded to deride the team, but the posts were later deleted. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that McClain and head coach Dennis Allen got into a heated exchange and ended with McClain being booted from the practice field.
This is a key moment for the new regime in Oakland. Allen and Reggie McKenzie need to stand unified, unwilling to tolerate a poor play and a player that steps over the line with his coach.
Billed as the best draft pick by Al Davis in years, McClain was supposed to be the anti-JaMarcus Russell. He was tutored under the great Nick Saban at Alabama and the so-called "can’t miss" player of the 2010 NFL Draft. This type of incident wasn’t supposed to happen.
McClain’s rookie season was a disappointment; the 259-pound linebacker failed to make impact plays and finished the season with just 85 tackles. People made excuses for McClain and ignored that fact that linebackers drafted that highly should step in and be productive as rookies. It finally became apparent at some point during his second season that McClain was far from the next Ray Lewis.
The new regime gave McClain a clean slate in year three, but after four games took him out of the nickel package in favor of rookie fourth-rounder Miles Burris. In the process, McClain lost his defensive play-calling duties to Philip Wheeler. At that point it seemed unlikely that McClain would return in 2013 as $4 million is a lot to pay a two-down linebacker that frequently jogs around the field.
