The biggest incident in the USFL’s debut weekend occurred off the field when a player was cut for a situation involving disrespect, chicken salad and pizza.
Former Pittsburgh Maulers running back De’Veon Smith was shown stunningly being released by head coach Kirby Wilson in the league’s “United By Football” documentary.
The incident quickly went viral, forcing the team to issue a statement on Monday that pointed the blame solely at Smith for multiple team violations.
“Much of the context was left out in this moment. Smith had violated three team rules in a 24-hour span, and in this particular incident, disrespected a cafeteria worker, which wasn’t captured on camera,” wrote the team.
But that drew quick retorts from Smith who blasted the team in a series of tweets for smearing his character.
“See now y’all playing with my character and who I am as a man.” tweeted Smith in one response.
After much back and forth, coach Wilson decided to address the incident in person at a press conference.
“The thing about this whole situation is I have a set of standards that we go by as a football team,” said Wilson. “Those standards weren’t met. That individual knew that we had a prior agreement that led to a later misunderstanding. Once those incidents were brought to my attention, I addressed them immediately.”
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