Whatever happened between Christian Wilkins and at least one of his teammates in the Raiders locker room, the details still haven’t been made public.
There was an ESPN report that described a playful kiss from Wilkins on a teammate, but several reports have suggested there is more to the story.
No one has been willing to touch the [presumably] sensitive rumors around Wilkins, but former Raiders’ color commentator Lincoln Kennedy shared an interesting perspective this week with Raiders Nation Radio host Q Myers.
“I’m going to keep it real. The locker room to this day is still a very extreme homophobic environment to this day,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
“In fact, with the way that world has changed, I still know the locker room to be one way. There are certain things that you just don’t do. Not to say it probably wouldn’t be accepted if it were confronted, but you’re surprised [with] things that come out of left field… I don’t know what went on in the locker room… but I do know from the terms of the things that we’ve heard, how I can speculate, how it would affect me if I was there…”
Kennedy added that if he was in the Raiders’ locker room, he would have wanted to address Wilkins’ actions before they became uncomfortable for teammates.
“If I was a person in that locker room, [I would say] ‘Dude, you can’t do that. Don’t do that here, regardless of what your thoughts are off the field, don’t do that here because it’s not accepted,” Kennedy said. “Learn your situation. Learn what’s around you. Read the room. Let’s be honest, things don’t go here that they might go elsewhere. And I remember being enlightened when I moved to the Bay Area, being transferred, being traded when I did, going to Oakland, seeing the Bay Area, how life was there, realizing I needed to open up and broaden my horizons. Now I’m ever accepting.”
“Anybody who knows me knows that I throw no shade on you. You are your own person. As long as it doesn’t affect me negatively, I don’t have a problem with you being in my life, but when you go into that locker room, there is a collective effort that I understand, and I read the room. There are things you can do and you can’t do. If this is true, Christian, going forward, learn from your mistakes. You are a good player. I hope that you find a way to find life after this injury. But don’t do things. Read the room.”
When the Raiders released Christian Wilkins last week, the official statement from the organization cited that he had evidenced “no clear path or plan for future return to play” after a foot injury he suffered last year.
There were reports that the Raiders wanted Wilkins to have a second surgery on his foot, but he refused to have the surgery. Wilkins instead opted for another form of rehab and not a lot has been reported on his progress over the past few months.
But based on the team’s statement, they weren’t pleased with his progress.
It is believed there were other factors involved in Wilkins’ release, but the team did not directly address the reported “kissing” incident in their statement.
There could be a few explanations to why he hasn’t signed since being released by the Raiders, but according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, Wilkins might soon change his position on having another surgery.
“I was told last night and I’m more comfortable passing this along, even though it’s not 100 percent nailed down. Apparently, his firm is starting to acknowledge that [Wilkins] may need another surgery on the foot,” Florio said on PFT Live on Thursday.
”That was the fight with the Raiders,” Florio continued. “He had one [surgery], needs another, he didn’t want to do it. I don’t know whether he got a second opinion. He’s got a right to one. He’s got a right to rely on the second opinion. And that may be just saving face because no one has rushed to sign him. We’re six days in, well, maybe he does need surgery on that foot before someone is going to give him another chance.”
Previously, Florio acknowledged that he had heard additional rumors about Wilkins and labeled the Adam Schefter report as a favor to Wilkins’ agent.
“The reality here is Christian Wilkins has representation that is charged with finding him a job, so what do you do? You work the angles. You work your sources,” Florio continued.
“Let’s call it what it is. David Mulugheta represents Christian Wilkins. He’s working [Adam Schefter] to get Schefter to put a story out there that is favorable to Christian Wilkins. Let’s just put a favorable story out there so someone will pay him a lot of money. That’s how it works.”
“Why does the reporter do it?” Florio added. “Because it pays off on the back end. For example, when Micah Parsons signs his contract, Schefter may be the first one to report it now because it’s the same agent representing both guys. That’s the transactional nature of the insider game.”
x: @raidersbeat