It’s been just under a week since the Raiders released Christian Wilkins, and the more time goes by, the more bizarre the circumstances around his release have become.
By all accounts, including a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, there was an unwanted kiss from Wilkins that happened at some point in the offseason, and many believe Schefter’s account left out a few details.
According to Schefter, there was a complaint about Wilkins sent to the Raiders human resources department by one of Wilkins’ teammates and until Wednesday, no one has commented on the identity of that player.
But according to The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov, the player involved was veteran defensive tackle Adam Butler.
“Around league circles, it’s pretty well known that whatever happened with Christian Wilkins, the other player has been Adam Butler. That’s been known around the NFL,” Meirov said on the NFL Spotlight podcast.
“I don’t know what exactly what happened, I’m not going to go out there and speculate. We have the report about the kissing on the forehead. There could be a possibility where this is all going to go through an arbitrator and the Raiders are going to have to explain why they released [Wilkins]… is it all because of the injury or was their more conduct detrimental to the team?”
Meirov discusses the story at the 19:00 mark in the video (below).
On Tuesday, Butler addressed the Wilkins situation with members of the media, and his message was different than what anyone has talked about to this point in the process.
“We’ve pretty much just kind of moved on from the situation,” Butler said. “I really don’t want to comment further on it. But I will say whatever you’re going through as a person, athlete, non-athlete, whoever, whatever your struggle is, if you got something going on in life, talk to somebody. Get some therapy, whatever your deal is, it’s your deal.”
“Somebody out there in this world full of billions of people is willing to listen. They’re willing to listen, hear you out, and help you work through whatever you need to work through. Don’t make any hasty decisions. Get help.”
If accurate that Butler was the other player involved in the “kissing” incident, his message on Tuesday carries even more weight.
NBC Sports’ Mike Florio said this week that he has heard a different version of the story but has been unwilling to discuss the rumored details.
Florio did imply, though, that his version was related enough to Schefter’s story that the two could have been tied together – or potentially different accounts of the same event.
“As to the incident, would a reasonable professional football player make a report to H.R. over a teammate allegedly kissing him on the head?” Florio asked on PFT Live. “It seems like an extreme reaction to being kissed on the head. So if an H.R. report was indeed filed, it’s fair to wonder whether the player who made the report has a different version of the events.”
Based on Butler’s statement on Tuesday, it seems like there is definitely a different version of the events than what Schefter shared this week on The Pat McAfee Show.
Florio also said he senses the Raiders may have been looking for a reason to release Wilkins and are using the situation (whatever it may ultimately be) to try to get out of the guaranteed money in his contract.
“This just feels like the company looking for a reason to get rid of the guy and they had this other thing fall into their lap, or they were actively looking for it,” Florio said on PFT Live on Tuesday.
Florio seems to think that Wilkins’ camp is trying to downplay the story – which would suggest there is probably more to what happened between Wilkins and the teammate than what Schefter shared.
“The reality here is Christin 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
Same old Raiders. Can’t get publicity by winning, so they need to make their own stupid headlines. SMH…