2:36pm: The Falcons announced on Monday that Batson has been released from the practice squad. He is now a free agent, though a new NFL deal is certainly unlikely given his current situation.
9:58am: Falcons practice squad wideout Cameron Batson was involved in an altercation with police following a traffic stop over the weekend. He is now facing a total of five criminal charges stemming from the incident.
Batson was pulled over early Saturday morning in Atlanta for speeding, and the officer on scene attempted to take him into custody after determining he was intoxicated. Batson “resisted and violently fought with the officer,” as noted in the official police statement. The altercation between the two resulted in the officer firing his gun (without hitting anyone), and Batson fleeing the scene on foot. After his eventual arrest, both he and the officer were hospitalized.
As detailed by ESPN’s Michael Rothstein, Batson has since been officially booked and is now facing five criminal charges. Those charges are: assault, battery, aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer when engaged on official duty, removal of weapon from public official and driving-fleeing to elude a police officer. Rothstein notes that the 27-year-old could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
“We have been made aware of an overnight incident involving Cameron Batson and are currently gathering information from law enforcement agencies,” the Falcons said in a statement following his arrest on Saturday. “We take this matter seriously and have no further comment at this time.”
A former UDFA, Batson began his NFL career in 2018 with the Titans. He made a total of 27 appearances in Tennessee (including three starts) across three seasons, posting 22 catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns. He also totalled 311 yards as a kick returner during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Texas Tech alum was among the Falcons’ final roster cuts at the start of the season, but he has remained on their practice squad throughout the year. Batson has yet to see any time on Atlanta’s active roster.
Some people just can’t handle their liquor very well.
Feels like he should have taken a slightly different approach to resolving this situation.
“Batson has yet to see any time on Atlanta’s active roster.”
I’m guessing this won’t change much any time soon…
I expect Roger to come out league wide to condemn this players behavior and all players on and off the field who violate of the law. He will reinforce the commitment that players convicted of crimes will be removed permanently from the league at all levels. He will champion a program to pay all financial costs to officers and generally each victim and their families as a result of players conduct.
Financial costs to officers?
New to the NFL? Goodell has never kicked a player out of the league. Mike Vick did federal time and still was allowed back into the league.
I think the prison time outweighs NFL punishment for Vick. He lost a fortune, spent two years behind bars, and has done pretty much all you could ask to show contrition and accountability. I wouldn’t personally want the guy on my team, but he faced enough consequences.
Leonard Little is the one that always blows my mind. He killed a woman driving drunk, got off with a slap on the wrist, got caught driving drunk AGAIN, and still played several more years in the league.
Thanks for reminding me about Little. Forgot about him. Too many serious charges against NFL players and still are allowed to play. Alvin Kamara was caught on camera w/friends beating up a guy and didn’t miss a game this year.
I think in cases like that, Goodell hopes the wheels of justice will make his job easier, but now we’re almost a year out and Kamara’s still dangling. (But dangling in the free way.)
Richard Sherman’s behavior one night wasn’t far off of this and he saw zero discipline.
Donte Stallworth is a second. He did 24 days in jail for killing a pedestrian in a DUI collision. Stallworth had also, if you remember, been in the league’s substance abuse program a year or two prior.
He apparently is a pretty smart guy, and works in some sort of anti-cyber terror capacity these days.
I am fairly certain DMS was being sarcastic.
Oh yeah, that should go without saying. Hopefully.
If you can find one person who believes in Roger Goodell’s moral commitment, I’d completely unsarcastically want to talk to them.
I think the NFL should make some kind of statement to address this issue of their players committing numerous crimes every year. Maybe instead of “End Racism” in each end zone they could put “End Criminal Activity” or “Stop Committing Crimes.” It will probably work just as well.
It’s probably too much to ask though. It’s really hard to go through life without committing felonies.
One slogan makes money and the other slogan doesn’t. We both know which is which.
While watching football yesterday I saw an NFL ad promoting gambling followed by an NFL ad preaching the dangers of gambling. You really can’t make this stuff up.
The NFL is a cesspit of hypocrisy on every level.
DUI and domestic violence are rampant in the population at large, so apparently yes, it is hard to go through life without committing felonies. Guess NFL players had better not talk about social justice issues because a guy with 22 career catches committed a crime.
They talk about social justice when it’s beneficial to their brand. Don’t act like it’s not calculated. It’s not unique to the NFL either. You have guys like Lebron James that preach human rights in the US and then mysteriously become mute when asked about their business dealings in China.
They can do and say whatever they want but don’t expect me to take any of it seriously.
Given the photos from his school days, the phoniest of all is Jerry Jones kneeling, but we knew that already.
But your larger point is clearly to use any instance of hypocrisy or supposed hypocrisy to shut up messages you don’t like. Why do Chinese human rights violations mean you can’t talk about one’s in the country where you actually live and raise your kids?
I didn’t say a person couldn’t talk about them. I said it makes a person a hypocrite. And the opinion of a hypocrite carries zero weight.
By the way, I never excluded Jerry Jones from the hypocrisy of the NFL. The league office, owners and players all play their part in it. It seems you are trying to take this discussion in a different direction by mentioning him.
And you have a very specific direction, which is a pretext to shut up subjects you don’t like.
You’ve got me wrong. I love debate and hearing opinions that are different from mine. I only ask that those people are honest about their motivations.
Arizona is inducing labor on pregnant prisoners against their will. I think it’s hypocritical to complain about human rights violations in china without mentioning Arizona.
It’s hypocritical to accept money from China and then complain about human rights violations in America while ignoring the ones committed by people you benefit from.
It’s not hypocritical for a random person on a message board to call out hypocrisy without mentioning every human rights violation in existence. Come on. You’re just arguing for arguments sake.
That’s not what your original post was about. Nice try.
I’m responding to your conversation with FlytheW1616. Lol try to keep up.
I know, and I’m saying you’re still full of it.
Ah ok. Good argument. You definitely won that debate.
It’s actually not. A majority of the population does not commit crimes, let alone felonies. And a lot of felonies are a result of prior misdemeanor convictions, so repeat offenders. Not new ones.
And I don’t care if players speak on what they care about. But nobody seems to care about their teammates or players committing felonies….and that’s the problem.
Who says nobody cares? And a majority of NFL players don’t commit crimes or felonies either. You just hear about it every time they do.
Players commit assault on the field and pay minimal consequences.
They need a thumbs down here for dumb comments like the one above.
Not here to debate the hypocrisy of the NFL, but just happy that nobody got seriously hurt. Fighting the police and weapons being discharged… sheesh, this could have ended very poorly. Happy 2023 to all my fellow sports fans throughout the world.
I try to contain the cynicism that increases with age but this article feels like a teaser to prepare us for another Antonio Brown update.