For the second time in the last three years, controversy has struck on the eve of the NFL Draft.
It was reported Thursday that racists tweets containing the N-word from former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen resurfaced. It was also reported those tweets were from Allen’s time in high school in 2012 and 2013 and were since deleted.
Allen owned up to it and apologized, saying to ESPN, “If I could go back in time, I would never have done this in a heartbeat. … At the time, I obviously didn’t know how harmful it was and not has become.
“I hope you know and others know I’m not the type of person I was at 14 and 15 that I tweeted so recklessly. … I don’t want that to be the impression of who I am because that is not me. I apologize for what I did.”
Not to defend Allen for the content of those tweets, but it is what it is. While playing the “I was young and dumb” card is stale, I tend to believe him.
Now, he’s put on the spot and he’ll hopefully exercise better judgement as he prepares for his pro career.
Even 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman (Man, that sounds weird saying that. Doesn’t it?) defended Allen.
ESPN’s Josina Anderson tweet she asked Sherman of Allen’s racist tweets and he responded, “He was kid. If you gave most of us a platform early in high school, I’m sure our immaturity would have shown as his did.”
Though it’s unfortunate, I initially moved on from the subject until ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted on Thursday:
“A theory two people in the past hour now have floated: another team plotted to have Josh Allen’s racially insensitive tweets put out just before the draft in order to increase the chances he would fall in the draft to that team.”
While it’s just a theory, and a really juicy one at that, I tend to believe where there’s smoke, there’s a fire.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio pointed out to 2016 NFL Draft.
Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil, formerly of the University of Mississippi, was such the example when a video of him wearing a gas mask and smoking from a bong surfaced on his Twitter account. (Seriously, Twitter is starting to sound like trouble more than a tool.)
It was quickly explained that his Twitter account got hacked, but regardless it sent NFL team’s war rooms into a frenzy in deciding whether to take the top-rated lineman.
Before that happened, Tunsil was projected to be the No. 1 overall pick. He ended up falling to the Dolphins at No. 13.
Fast forward to 2018, and Allen’s tweets are the talk of the draft.
Though not rated as the top quarterback prospect, it was argued the Cleveland Browns could take Allen with the No. 1 pick. And bam, the tweets surface.
In a piece published by NBC Sports, Florio argued if someone in the NFL leaked Allen’s tweets on purpose so he’d slide in the draft, they did it too early as it gave teams time to do more research or to reach out to Allen directly.
He said that if they were purposely going to do it, they should have done so minutes before the Browns were on the clock in order to maximize chaos.
I don’t know the inner-workings of the NFL. For all I know, the whole thing is an unfortunate accident.
But also for all I know, this kind of stuff happens all the time when millions of dollars and the futures of franchises are determined at these drafts.
I hope it’s the former rather than the latter, but if this is true and a team put it out there in order to have a better chance to land him, how sleazy is that?
What if that team actually drafted Allen? If that were true and he found out about it, if I were him, I wouldn’t want to play for that team for putting me on front street like that.
But again, it’s all speculation.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
Good to point out. In high school, Al Noga, former UH football standout, got called a name too. I think they called him an animal and didn’t know what he had carrying in his hands while in school. Brutal. A dumb Polynesian they would be classified as. Whereabouts now of this man? I have no idea. They called Cal Lee Shangai steak, Panda express. Or Vince Goo, a fake oriental, not smart. They all had names to deal with. This is Hawai’i.