"Just do me a favor," Darrell Russell told reporters after his arrest earlier this year for allegedly drugging and raping a Bay Area woman. "As much effort as you guys are putting to trashing my name, I want you to put the same effort in clearing my name when this is all over."

	Will Darrell Russell ever return to the field?

Yet as the Oakland Raiders' defensive tackle walks away a free man, he will need more than the media to redeem his reputation. Russell has shown only a passing acquaintance with responsibility, earning a year's suspension from the NFL for violating the league's drug policy three times, and just last month, he was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving on his way back from a Nevada brothel.

Russell steered clear of jail time on Thursday, when Oakland prosecutors dropped all 25 felony charges against him and co-defendants Naeem Perry and Ali Hayes. Prosecutors said they lacked enough evidence to convince a jury that Russell drugged the woman last Jan. 31, then forced her to have sex with Perry and Hayes, on videotape, without her consent.

During pre-trial hearings in June, defense attorneys damaged the credibility of the woman and her friends who testified at the hearing. They pointed out contradictions in the women's statements to police in January and their statements on the stand in June. But what really destroyed the case was the absence of chemical evidence that the woman had ingested the "date-rape drug" GHB. (By the time she was tested, the drug would have been out of her system anyway.) Without proof she was drugged, the videotaped sex acts were too open to interpretation. If, after watching her behavior on the tape, you believed she was drugged, it could be rape. But prosecutors apparently decided jurors would agree with Russell's mother, who upon viewing the tape in court, said, "Looks like consensual to me."

Russell can apply for reinstatement to the Raiders at the end of this season, but the team has distanced itself from him, and league officials can keep him out if he does not show progress in his recovery from substance abuse. The NFL isn't likely to view Russell's recent arrest as a step in the right direction.

When he came into the league, the two-time Pro Bowler was seen as a quick-witted and friendly giant. His name didn't get trashed overnight. It took years.

It may also take years for Darrell Russell to get back on the field. Getting back his good name may take even longer.

Luke Cyphers is a senior editor at ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at luke.cyphers@espnpub.com