The Dallas Cowboys officially released Lucky Whitehead on Monday evening following news of the wide receiver’s reported arrest. The only problem is ... Whitehead might be innocent. Check out what NFL insider Ian Rapoport had to say in an appearance on NFL Network.

I did speak to his agent a little bit ago on the phone and as David Rich, his agent, told me, he believes — and Lucky Whitehead told him and told Jason Garrett to his face — that he was not there. And the reason why I say that, this alleged incident happened on June 22nd at 1:30 AM. According to flight records that I’ve seen by now, Lucky Whitehead flew from the Dallas area to [Washington Dulles International Airport] in D.C. six hours later. He was not even present. He actually flew to Virginia for his football camp for kids after the alleged incident took place. Which, to me, and to the agent, and to really those who have seen it, makes you believe he was not there. Either the Cowboys simply just wanted to end the issue or didn’t believe him.

Assuming Whitehead’s account is true, and it seems there’s evidence to back it up, that’s pretty crazy the Cowboys cut a potentially innocent player while doing nothing to punish the players who have actually gotten in legitimate trouble this offseason. And there’s been no shortage of those given the Nolan Carroll arrest, the Damien Wilson arrest, and all the Ezekiel Elliott stuff going on.

The Cowboys very well may have cut Whitehead this offseason anyway, but you’re kidding yourself if you think today’s news didn’t have an impact on the timing. Plus there’s this:

#Cowboys Lucky Whitehead release was cumulative, I'm told. Just the totality of dumb stuff this offseason. Far too high maintenance. — Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) July 24, 2017

Again, if Whitehead is actually innocent, it’s pretty embarrassing for Dallas to cut him in order to “send a message” to the rest of the team. How about punishing the players who actually got in trouble?

I can’t imagine the NFLPA is going to be cool with this decision. The Cowboys may have just opened a can of worms by cutting Whitehead so suddenly.

Much to the enjoyment of Eagles fans, Dallas has been a complete mess this offseason.

UPDATE: Turns out Whitehead was innocent after all. Lol Cowboys.