TBH I’m not sure I buy it. It seems to me the team would’ve just said that if this were the case.
His tears at the end of the season told me everything I needed to know. This guy cares period. He believes his production and his contract didn’t fit and that bothered him. I love this guy and I hope he comes back healthy with a chip on his shoulder as big as his heart.
Well, he makes enough money to be able to afford child care/ nanny. He is a clown and I hope he retires. Quinn shouldn’t have extended him. There was absolutely no need to.
Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) tweeted at 9:21 AM on Wed, Jan 01, 2020:
Reviewing our coverage of the Snacks offseason stuff, in light of his tweets last night.
We–along with almost everyone–mistakenly referred to his situation as a holdout, when Bob Quinn said after Day 3 of the draft that his absence during workouts wasn’t contract related.
(https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/1212393485808087040?s=03)
For that, I apologize.
That being said, Snacks made it clear during the season that his absence wasn’t holdout related after the birth of his child. We wouldn’t make the same mistake today.
Also, we would never, ever just assume a player is out of shape because they’re on NFI.
(https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/1212394028672671744?s=03)
Obviously, there were reasons to think Snacks’ situation was a holdout. Rosenhaus met with the Lions, and he eventually DID get a new deal. Also, outside of that very short statement from BQ, the #Lions refused to talk about Snacks’ situation.
Still, I have to do better.
(https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/1212394963683741696?s=03)
Even our writers suck like no other teams do. Jesus.
The team did say it. No one listened
I’ll always believe how shitty Lions fans are to players especially in the social media age plays a part in why this team is where is it’s at.
Thanks CD. What a mess.
I think I mentioned this on this forum back in July or August. I knew this back then, not sure why it didn’t resonant with the fans.
Ebron got it bad. Can’t think of anyone else really. Most fan bases are the same when it comes to that stuff IMO.
Being able to afford child care has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with being there to support your wife and be there when you kids are born. You are obviously not a parent with a comment like this!!!
As far as the validity to this…I follow him on social media and he did post about his twins during training camp, and he showed up right after their birth. No story there
Jared Heatley (@HeatleyJared) tweeted at 9:41 AM on Wed, Jan 01, 2020:
I’m pretty sure Snacks was referring to a specific blogger who wrote an article after he spoke on his retirement, not on the hold out in particular. His article was recent and painted Snacks as a selfish player who knew he was going to retire after this year but wanted guarentees
(https://twitter.com/HeatleyJared/status/1212398524534591488?s=03)
Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) tweeted at 9:43 AM on Wed, Jan 01, 2020:
I know which article you’re talking about, and I agree, that’s probably what sparked his Tweets. It was an extremely disrespectful column.
Still, I wanted to take the opportunity to self-reflect how we covered the situation, and just about everyone got it wrong to a degree.
(https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/1212398975279603712?s=03)
Here is a link to that article:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/sidelionreport.com/2019/12/31/detroit-lions-damon-harrison-retirement-infuriating/amp/
Very valid reason. I’d probably do the same.
It sounds like it’s bothered him that the fan base didn’t know. He could have easily resolved the misunderstanding himself.
It’s not, and shouldn’t be, the teams responsibility to air personal reasons for absence, especially medical reasons of absence.
If the player wants the fans to understand the reason for their absence, then by all means, announce it.
Why come out after the season and announce it. He could have announced it at any point in time, to include during the absence.
Cool. Well , it’s not really a problem if you come in and perform. He did not… therefore he deserves every bit of criticism he receives. He can make all the excuses he wants, cry like a little baby and say that he was actually in good shape, but he wasn’t. It was clear he was woefully out of shape and he was terrible this season. He has 2 years left on his deal I have no idea why Quinn would extend him. You save almost $7 million by cutting him this year but take a $5 million cap hit. Cutting him is a no brainer.
The beat writers were easily in the wrong here. That said, the team absolutely should have come out and said something about it to stop the rumors.
Snacks has/had a significant following on Twitter. He was evasive and sometimes cryptic. If he was home taking care of his children due to a difficult pregnancy with his wife, he had an easy way to relay that information to the masses.
man if I were an athlete there’s no way I could read any newspaper articles about me or the team. just avoid that nightmare completely.
As much as I don’t love my allies here, I have to agree that the “I had to watch the kids” excuse doesn’t exactly fly as an explanation for missing all offsesason activities, coming in totally out of shape, and being ineffective.
I think it’s a bit of revisionist history now that he has his contract.
It was a terrible extension that didn’t need to be given at that time. I don’t really give AF about Snacks crying. If he cared as much as folks here think, then he should give back some of the money he stole this year. Dude cried about an extension and then came in fat as F and dogged it most of the season. He spent more time on Twitter than he did making meaningful plays on the field.
I can appreciate being there for your wife, but you can still keep your ass in shape. Let’s not act like he sat next to her bed for weeks without leaving the room. Dude sure found a way to inhale 50 lbs of Popeyes on a daily basis, but couldn’t leave for a few hours to, you know, earn the contract he whined about and was given?
I’d love to see him try to come back and redeem himself. High liklihood that the injury he dealt with came from coming in out of shape. We all have different responses to stress, and he may be a dude that shuts down. It’s fairly normal. Because of the unreliable amount of money these cats make, a lot of people want to judge. I hope he learned from it and comes back, as another dude said, “with a chip on his shoulder as big as his heart.” Good players get old, and I hope that’s not what is going on here.
It’s fun to root for quality human beings, and he is one. Would love to see him next to Darrick Brown mashing QBs into the earth, next season.