Running back Jonathan Dwyer was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list Thursday by the Arizona Cardinals amidst aggravated assault charges in which he is alleged to have hit his wife and 17-month-old son.
He won't be able to return to the team this year and his future as an NFL player is in serious doubt according to head coach Bruce Arians, who spoke for the first time regarding the incident.
"We'll allow the court systems to take care of what is true and what isn't true," Arians said. "As far as up until then, until he's exonerated, he will not be a member of this football team.
"If and when he is exonerated, I will gladly take him back."
Arians originally coached Dwyer for two seasons in Pittsburgh, where the running back was a sixth- round pick in 2010. The coach and teammates across the locker room expressed shock at the charges with several describing Dwyer as "soft spoken" and "a good guy."
"For me personally, I was totally shocked because I've known Jon a long time," Arians said. "It was totally out of character from what I've known."
Arians said that he was "truly floored" by the situation. His wife has been a, "court-appointed special advocate for children" for more than 18 years.
"Finally, people have been coming aware of it and doing something about it, and it's uncalled for," he said. "I think anyone who touches a woman or a child, in my opinion, needs to go to jail for a long time.
"If this was my son, I would have a very hard time dealing with it."
Arians said that he spoke to Dwyer before he was arrested and that Dwyer claimed the chargers were false.
Larry Foote, a veteran linebacker who played alongside Dwyer in Pittsburgh before the two reunited in Arizona, described the relationship between Dwyer and his wife as "happy-go-lucky" and "loving."
"From the outside, it looked like everything was smooth," he said.
"But I know relationships, a lot of things are said that shouldn't be said. A lot of things happen that shouldn't happen," Foote said. "Me, first as a man, I don't condone hitting any woman. I don't care what the scenario is. I really feel bad for that family."
Arians, while acknowledging the difficult and tragic nature of the situation, tried to find a silver lining.
"This isn't about being under a microscope in the NFL; this is a serious problem in the nation and around the world," Arians said. "Domestic violence is something that we all have to work on.
"If this bad scar on the NFL, as you want to say, right now makes the rest of the world aware of what's going on, it's damn good."
Dwyer is allegedly undergoing mental health evaluation due to the threats of suicide. ESPN is reporting that Arizona will continue to pay his base salary of $730,000.
