How does it HURT them getting there? If anything, and I mean ANYTHING happens, he is cut, and good riddance. Very low risk signing with very high potential reward.
Plus, when you talk about character, there are lots of ways to define that in regards to an NFL team. Hunt just might be a great teammate and locker room guy, which is infinitely more important than his character when it comes to 3am drunken stupid stuff in the offseason.
Signing Hunt doesnt tarnish anything. At all. If you want to view it that way, cool. But for the vast majority of people LOSING tarnishes the rebuild a lot more than not signing all choir boys.
I'm not talking about my delicate sensibilities. I won't argue with a fan who stops watching because they don't want to support bad guys and i won't argue with someone who supports their team regardless and just wants to see good football.
I'm talking about a team which already has a history of losing, a history of questionable acquisitions, that has a cocky young quarterback who says things he's not "supposed to", and just brought in one of the most recognizable stars in football with his mercurial personality. That's a lot to handle.
They don't need hunt so badly that they need the distractions he brings. They want fans on the bandwagon, not off. They want leaders, not hard questions from reporters.
And you think bringing in a very talented guy who by accounts is resolving significant anger issues, is dedicated to making himself a better person, and played in a previous environment dedicated to winning with a diverse offense is a bad thing in that regard?
I think you're asking if i believe he can rehabilitate his image. Yes. I also think other fans may refuse to watch him, and that his presence, and reinstatement, and questions about his playing time, and the risk of any future incidents with him or his teammates, all of that could be bad news for a team that already had its arrow pointing up.
this is rich coming from a Pats fan, talk about tarnished
The patriots are a good example of a team that had the locker room to handle these huge distractions.
The Patriots got caught up in deflategate, and had a record setting 18-1 season.
The patriots had qma guy with questionable character and sense CTE murder someone. They cut him before the investigation even kicked off but the distraction never ended. The pats went on to the afc championship game.
When Brady got suspended - the team went on to win the superbowl.
When edelman got suspended - the team went on to win the superbowl.
Not many teams have the kind of locker room and coaching that the Patriots do. The Browns certainly don't.
Setting aside your personal feelings about whether a professional athlete hitting a woman is as serious an offense as playing football outside on a cold day, do you think the browns are as prepared as the Patriots were to handle major distractions?