Coffee with the Jets: Is Daryl Washington worth taking a risk on?

In this edition of Coffee with the New York Jets, a reader asks if they should take a look at recently released linebacker Daryl Washington, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals. Let’s discuss over an iced cup of coffee.

Having an opportunity to talk football over coffee is always fun to do with readers over a long offseason. As the New York Jets are a few weeks past the 2017 NFL Draft, it’s that lull until organized team activities and training camp that can sometimes be rough to get through.

Don’t worry though, I love talking football with all my loyal readers and asked via my personal Twitter account to send any questions they’d like on the Jets so I can answer them right here on The Jet Press.

Today’s question comes from Sahal, here’s what he asked via Twitter:

@LTJ81 @TheJetPress My fellow Fansider Luis, would Bowles be wise to look into the now-released Daryl Washington? The LB depth behind Harris & Lee is mediocre.

— Sahal Abdi (@sAbdi28) May 11, 2017

Sahal, thanks for the question! While I think the Jets will do their due diligence to always be on the lookout for potential free agent acquisitions that could benefit the team, linebacker Daryl Washington would actually be a player to stay away from.

It’s no secret that he’s had numerous issues in his once-promising career when it comes to substance-abuse violations. The last time Washington played in a regular season football game was back in 2013. He’s been suspended indefinitely since then and well, the Jets are rebuilding for a brighter future and shouldn’t bring in another player with more cons than pros.

Washington has been out of football for a very long time and at the end of the day, it wouldn’t be wise for the Jets to take a risk on him after just being reinstated. Yes, the Jets could use more veteran depth at linebacker but again, this wouldn’t be the best direction go in considering the franchise is trying to have a locker room of players that keep their names in the headlines for the right reasons. Not another player that could bring potential distractions like the Jets had last year.

Next: Final grades for entire 2017 NFL Draft class of the Jets

Overall, it’s no problem if the Jets do some research on him to see what he’s capable of if they’d be interested in bringing him to the mix. It is a problem if they invest in a player that has been given more than enough chances to redeem himself and continues to be a huge liability. It’s best the Jets steer clear from Washington in the grand scheme of things.