Stevens bad to the last drop

In Jerramy Stevens' world, somebody always is there to clean up the mess. Talent trumps behavior. Potential masks misdeeds.

Second chances are handed out like breath mints in Stevens' world. Every misstep is excused. Every arrest is forgiven. Every dropped pass is explained away.

Stevens has it all — brains, athleticism, looks and limitless potential. It was easy to fall for him.

Easy to think he would outgrow his self-destructive ways. Easy to think he would change. Easy to believe he would beat enough safeties, throw enough blocks, catch enough passes, help you win enough games to magically make all of his problems disappear.

In Jerramy Stevens' world, people are fooled into thinking he can be rehabilitated. In his world, he always is the victim. Everything can be blamed on somebody else — the media, the fans, the defensive backs.

He never hit rock bottom, because somebody — a parent, a coach, a college administrator — always was there to catch him.

Stevens lived his life like a gymnast with a spotter. He could take risks. He could drive drunk. Somebody always was present to save him from himself.

He was the champion of second chances. Two-hundred-sixty pounds of Teflon.

But ultimately he also was, and remains, an inveterate knucklehead. He hasn't been rehabilitated. He hasn't gotten better. He never found a clue.

Early Tuesday morning, his football career in the state of Washington came to an end. Stevens, 27, was arrested in Scottsdale, Ariz., and charged with marijuana possession, and driving under the influence.

The police report said Stevens made a U-turn. That's the story of his career. Stevens always is making U-turns, never learning from his mistakes.

Now, after five years of almosts and not quites, he is done with the Seattle Seahawks.

No matter how desperate for a pass-catching tight end, this franchise that has changed its image and demanded a higher level of citizenship from its players can't be hypocritical and re-sign Stevens.

After spending his entire football life in Washington — high school in Olympia, college at the University of Washington — he is out of here.

And his story is an NFL tragedy.

For all of his bravado, his on-field trash talking, his locker-room sneer, Stevens has lived his life like a tortured soul. A free agent in a market short on tight ends, he stood to make at least a guaranteed $15 million during this signing period.

But Stevens never found the willpower to seriously address his problem. His world always has been filled with enablers. Too many people, who mattered the most, refused to hold him accountable.

He was in jail before he was in college. He was in trouble before he was in his first Seahawks camp.

But somebody always covered his tracks, some coach always put him in the lineup and into the game plan, some owner always threw millions at him.

With help from his enablers, Stevens always found a scapegoat for his mistakes. A tattoo that ran on the under part of both arm reads, "Always Hated" under his right arm and "Never Faded," under the left.

Guess what? Jerramy Stevens has faded.

Hours after this most recent arrest, the Seahawks signed 35-year-old Marcus Pollard, a stop-gap tight end on the backside of a good career. Pollard caught 46 passes in 2005, but only 12 in 15 games last year. The Detroit Lions waived him at the beginning of the free-agency period, not an encouraging sign.

Now the Hawks will have to hope that either BYU's tight end, Jonny Harline, or Delaware's Ben Patrick will be available when they pick in the second round.

Tight ends should have been the least of the Seahawks' worries. Stevens should have been their answer for the rest of the decade. But his career here will be remembered more for the questions he raised than the answers he gave.

Pending the outcome of his court case and pending possible disciplinary action from the league, some other team will gamble millions on the potential they see on film. Some other coach will believe he can turn around Stevens' U-turn career.

But the Seahawks are done with him.

Finally.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com