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.
Based on the team’s statement, though, 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.
It has now been a week since Wilkins was released, and he remains a free agent. There could be a few explanations to why he hasn’t signed, but according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, Wilkins might soon have to 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.”
As for as the other rumors around Wilkins in recent days, Florio believes there is more to the “kissing” story than what ESPN’s Adam Schefter talked about on the Pat McAfee Show.
“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 said earlier this week.
“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
Story is he kissed another player while in the showers and he was half naked. That player reported him to Raiders HR and filed a formal complaint. That player was Adam Butlet who was disgusted by his actions. That was the straw that broke Wilkins back right there.