8 people who belong in the Arizona Cardinals Hall of Shame

Which former members of the Arizona Cardinals organization deserve to be in the team’s Hall of Shame?

The Arizona Cardinals Hall of Shame is a club that no one wants to be a part of. And just because you’re not technically a player doesn’t mean you’re exempt from this list. The Cardinals have had a ton of run-ins with the law and players who’ve flopped on the field.

Whether that’s from a production standpoint because they were absolutely bad or performing embarrassingly when it’s mattered the most. There’s been a range of expectations for the members of this list to perform before their incident or “bust” status was truly revealed.

Some of these players did make some plays in their careers, but the reason they’re on this list is for how they’re remembered.

These are in no particular order. What was surprising was seeing how many Cardinals have actually been arrested since 2000, a number that is in the mid-20s, thanks to USA Today’s arrest tracker.

It’s quite the group of people who made this list. So who are the eight members that were selected to be in the Arizona Cardinals Hall of Shame?

Early Doucet

In 2011, the Cardinals started the season with a 1-6 record. It looked like the year would be over for Arizona before the halfway point began. Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson changed all of that when he sparked the team with a 99-yard punt return for a touchdown in a Week 9 win over the St.Louis Rams.

Peterson’s efforts sparked the team so much that Arizona was riding a 5-1 record in their last six games. They entered their Week 16 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals with a 7-7 record, and it looked like a playoff berth was possible. This game against the Bengals sure didn’t start like that. By the time the fourth quarter had started, the Cardinals were facing a 23-0 deficit.

Touchdowns by Larry Fitzgerald and Jeff King got Arizona on the board, and a field goal would make the score 23-16 with a few minutes to play. Later on, the Cardinals were facing a 4th and 5 when quarterback John Skelton rolled to his right and fired a pass to a wide-open Early Doucet.

Doucet had actually turned around too early and in the process and fell down while the ball sailed over his head. Had he kept running a few more steps, it would have resulted in a touchdown for the Cardinals.

Instead, Arizona fell to the Bengals and then finished their season with an 8-8 record by beating the Seattle Seahawks in their season finale.

While the Cards didn’t have a chance for the wild card spot because the Detroit Lions somehow went 10-6, it still is one of the more agonizing moments in Arizona history. It would’ve been quite the feat to end the season with a winning record after that incredible rally.

Doucet was later released after the 2010 season.

Steve Keim

Who would’ve thought that heading into the 2018 season that the Cardinals general manager would basically foreshadow how bad the year would be? Steve Keim managed to do just that by getting pulled over, arrested, and jailed for an extreme DUI.

An extreme DUI is a blood alcohol level (BAC) over .15. Keim’s BAC was .193. The team fined and suspended him, and Keim’s money went to the local MADD group (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

To make things worse, Arizona started 0-4 in 2018 as they thought quarterback Sam Bradford would be a great person to give a chunk of money to. The season was so bad that heading into Week 13, the Cardinals were 2-9, with their only two wins coming in both of their matchups with the San Francisco 49ers.

Arizona somehow pulled off a miracle upset win on the road in Week 13 against the Green Bay Packers, and it was a result that ultimately led to the Packers firing head coach Mike McCarthy.

On top of it all, the Cardinals hadn’t won in Lambeau Field since the late 1940s! It was a historic win. The fact that I grew up in Wisconsin as a Cardinals fan and got to attend the game is even crazier.

Keim has appeared to right to the ship, but the jokes about his drinking issues still circulate the league.

Patrick Peterson

This was a hard thing for Cardinals fans to swallow. Patrick Peterson, the team’s defensive leader since 2011, was suspended for the first six games of the 2019 season for a positive PED test. This was after Peterson demanded a trade and then apologized for it, claiming he was “here to stay.”

Peterson’s suspension thrust Byron Murphy into a starting role that he wasn’t ready for, and Arizona struggled in 2019, going 5-10-1. When Peterson returned to the field, the quality of his play had bottomed out.

Peterson would continue to get burned by lower-depth chart players. He and Dre Kirkpatrick became an absolute liability in the Cardinals’ secondary last season, which ended up being Peterson’s last year in the desert. When free agency came this offseason, he saw the writing on the wall.

When FanSided’s own Matt Verderame said that he wouldn’t be back, he called it a “dirty rumor” and has since made laughable comments after joining the Minnesota Vikings of all teams.

Have fun being torched by Davante Adams and Allen Robinson twice a year.

Michael Floyd

Michael Floyd, The Cardinals’ first-round draft pick in 2012, made some memorable catches early on in his career. There was the go-ahead score on the road in Seattle in 2013 and his two touchdown catches against the Packers in the epic 26-20 divisional round playoff win in 2015.

Things were going pretty well until a loss to the Miami Dolphins in 2016. The team had returned home and Floyd decided to go out for some drinks. Floyd was found asleep at the wheel in Scottsdale, Arizona with a BAC of .217, which apparently is a super extreme DUI, one-upping Steve Keim from earlier on this list.

Floyd was released by the Cardinals and then picked up by the New England Patriots. He celebrated his time with the Patriots like he had the biggest contribution of anyone on the team. The only thing he did that year was an uncalled, illegal block on a Dolphins corner that sprang New England receiver Julian Edelman for a score.

He may own a Super Bowl ring now, but it’s definitely one of the lesser-earned ones.

Ricky Seals-Jones

As if 2018 couldn’t get any worse for the red birds, another arrest happened with the team’s tight end, Ricky Seals-Jones.

Seals-Jones had been out on the town when he needed to use the bathroom. In his effort to find that said bathroom, he moved a barrier/rope in the restaurant he was in.

That rope was to keep restaurant-goers there and prevent them from going into the hotel that was attached to the building, according to the report. Seals-Jones then got physical with the hotel worker and pushed them in the shoulder.

He was charged with assault, third-degree criminal trespassing, and disorderly conduct. He reportedly had “bloodshot” eyes during the incident.  This was such a preventable event, but it just didn’t work out that way.

Seals-Jones spent the 2019 season with the Cleveland Browns and 2020 with the Kansas City Chiefs. He is currently a member of the Washington Football Team.

Daryl Washington

Drafted in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Daryl Washington was a productive player early on in his career with the Cardinals. However, he is still considered to be a bust for the team.

While he did earn a Pro Bowl selection in 2012, Washington’s off-the-field issues made him a bust and one of the worst picks in Arizona history. In 2013, He was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault against his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had a child.

He had also been suspended for four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy months before the arrest. It just cascaded into a series of events that wound up getting Washington out of the league for good.

Washington pleaded guilty to the charges a year later in 2014. For someone who had such a bright future and potential, the choices the former Cardinals draft pick made off the field ended what could have been a great career.

David Boston

David Boston was one of Arizona’s best players from 1999 to 2002. Earning a Pro Bowl nod with nearly 1,600 receiving yards in 2001, fans were hoping he’d continue that level of play for a long time.

It was looking like that until one night when someone noticed Boston driving all over the road and phoned it in to the police as he followed the former Cardinals wide receiver. When he was pulled over, no alcohol was in his system, but a toxicology test showed traces of cocaine and marijuana in his blood.

When he left in free agency and signed with the San Diego Chargers in 2003, Boston was a nightmare. He caused so many problems in San Diego that he was traded to the Dolphins before the start of the 2004 season. That got even worse when he tested positive for steroids before the 2004 campaign.

Boston’s NFL career went down the tubes, but at least the Cardinals didn’t hang on to him.