Maualuga to take a vacation after his vacation
Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga, who was busted for DUI on January 29th, will undergo a minimum 30-day rehabilitation at the Betty Ford Center in Kentucky, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
There is no word on whether he will suffer a suspension as he met with league officials on Wednesday.
Last month's DUI wasn't the first alcohol-related Maualuga has had. And before he checks into rehab, he will take a previously planned vacation to Samoa to visit family.
“I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my father’s side of the family,” Maualuga said Saturday night, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “A lot has changed in four years, but family is something that doesn’t change and I know I have a lot of cousins there.”
The Bengals begin their off-season workout program on March 29th, but Hobson believes that Maualuga will be back from rehab in time to begin team workouts.
Maualuga was projected as one of three USC linebackers to be drafted in the first-round of the 2009 NFL draft. Instead, teammates Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews were drafted by the Texans and Packers, respectively, in the first-round. Maualuga slipped to the second round.
"Unfortunately, I had to screw it up and not have three linebackers go in the first round," said Maualuga after the draft. "But everything happens for a reason. . . . I'll be out to prove everybody wrong."
Fortunately for Maualuga, he hit two parked cars and a parking meter and did damage to property -- not people. While I'm skeptical of the rehab treatment's success, at least he's attempting to do something to make up for his mistake.
But it'll it up to him (after he's out of rehab) to make sure he doesn't "screw it up" again.
