Wide receiver Lucky Whitehead of the Dallas Cowboys. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
OXNARD, Calif. – Cowboys receiver Lucky Whitehead, a Manassas native, was released on the team’s first day of on-field activities during training camp after his reported involvement in an larceny incident in his home state of Virginia.
“I just think we’ve given Lucky a lot of different chances along the way going back to last year,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones told the team website about Dallas’s decision to cut the receiver. “I think we just decided it was time to go in a different direction.”
However, Whitehead was cleared of all charges Tuesday and now his future with the team is uncertain.
In a story first reported by TMZ, a man claiming to be Whitehead was arrested for stealing from a WAWA store in Woodbridge, VA early in the morning of June 22nd. The arrested individual didn’t have identification, but provided a name, date of birth and social security number matching Whitehead’s. Charged with larceny, the man failed to report for his July 6th court date, causing a warrant for his arrest to be issued.
Whitehead obviously failed to notify the team about the incident, as he wasn’t involved. Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said he didn’t learn of the reported arrest until Monday morning when TMZ published its story. Prior to the team’s afternoon practice in Oxnard, CA, Dallas informed Whitehead he’d been cut despite his agent’s claims the receiver was not in Virginia at the time of the arrest.
According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the Cowboys failed to get the paperwork for Whitehead’s release to the league office in time Wednesday, so the receiver’s future with the team is now in limbo.
