The NFL‘s New York Jets may not have been great in a long time, but they’ve never been this bad…
And while much of America is ready to resume the toughness of football season now that fall is getting close, this probably isn’t the kind of gridiron aggression fans had in mind.
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On Tuesday Geno Smith, the starting quarterback for the Jets, was attacked in the team’s locker room by IK Enemkpali, one of the team’s backup linebackers.
The attack was bad, too — so bad, it turns out Smith won’t be ready to play in a game until October because Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw with a sucker punch!!
What on earth could those two have been arguing about??
Jets coach Todd Bowles released a statement about what caused the incident, and it’s apparently pretty ridiculous:
“It’s something very childish that sixth graders could have talked about.”
Apparently, the fight was over money, according to reporters on Twitter:
According to a source, the Geno Smith/IK Enemkpali fight in the Jets locker room was indeed over money.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 11, 2015
And to be clear, Geno Smith just owed IK Enemkpali money, as I understand it. Doesn’t sound like it was a card game or anything like that.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 11, 2015
Enemkpali is a third-string linebacker making the minimum salary; Smith is a star quarterback who’s made more than $2 million in his first two seasons, with another $1.3 million coming this year and $1.5 million more next year, so as far as owing Enemkpali money… your guess is as good as ours.
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Other sources are reporting that Enemkpali was angry with Smith after the linebacker hosted a football camp for children in his hometown of Pflugerville, Texas that Smith was supposed to attend, and didn’t.
Here’s the camp flyer from two weeks before that camp should’ve taken place:
Just had a suprise visit from #phs graduate and #nfl player IK Enemkpali! He and some other pro football players pic.twitter.com/8xCsItGviq
— MrPfranks (@Mr_Pfranks) June 28, 2015
As you can see, Smith is displayed prominently on the flyer in addition to Enemkpali, though the quarterback allegedly never showed, which may have prompted the attack.
So it was over fundraiser money..?
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Now one man’s career is on hold after having to get his jaw surgically repaired.
Oh, and the other man, Enemkpali? Well, he was released immediately after the fight, according to Bowles:
“IK is gone. It’s something we don’t tolerate, something we can’t stand. You don’t walk up to another man and punch him in the face.”
A reporter quoting Bowles expanded on Enemkpali’s dismissal from the team:
Bowles: “You don’t get another opportunity after you sucker-punch somebody in the face and break their jaw.” #Jets
— dom cosentino (@domcosentino) August 11, 2015
Yeah, coach, you can say that again.
(But, hey — what about second opportunities for Ray Rice, and all the violence against women that is so pervasive in the league?)
The Jets actually might have done well to realize this about Enemkpali before they signed him. When he was in college at Louisiana Tech University, the sucker punch-thrower was arrested for battery on a police officer. Yikes!!
Even Enemkpali said at the time that he was behind it:
“I was just being a young. [It was] a young, hot-headed decision. I didn’t think about everything. If I knew what I know now, I would’ve gotten myself out of that situation. I lost my cool. That’s what it was. I didn’t know he was undercover, which is no excuse, but . . . Yeah, I lost my cool.”
And yet maybe he lost his cool a little bit again on Tuesday.
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Either way, an ambulance showed up to the Jets’ practice facility to take Smith to the hospital (where he will eventually have surgery), according to a sports reporter on the scene:
Ambulance just arrived at #Jets HQ. pic.twitter.com/pQBDaoKMQK
— dom cosentino (@domcosentino) August 11, 2015
But not before Smith could post to Instagram that he was going to return to the field soon (expect him healthy in October):
ILL BE BACK!A photo posted by Geno Smith III (@genosmith7) on Aug 11, 2015 at 11:03am PDT
A sneak attack in the locker room after an argument about money with the victim posting to Instagram immediately after the altercation — maybe Bowles was right about that whole “six-year-olds” thing.
What do U think — is Enemkpali going to be charged with assault?! We’d call this more than unnecessary roughness!
[Image via Derrick Salters/WENN/Jacob Peeler/Twitter.]
