Suspended Aldon Smith denies it was him in damning 'fire up session' video
Aldon Smith, the Oakland Raiders’ suspended pass rusher, is trying to put out more flames after a strange video surfaced on one of his social media accounts.
CSNBayArea.com discovered an archived Periscope video that belongs to Smith, which shows a man and a woman off camera engaged in and discussing a “fire up session.” From the sounds of it, that would be tantamount to smoking some type of substance — and the assumption is that the man who sounds exactly like Smith (and every other video has Smith’s voice matched with Smith’s face) is Smith.
Later in the video, what we believe to be Smith’s voice is heard saying: “It’s not like people know it’s Aldon Smith.”
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Smith posted a brief message on Twitter, his first post in two weeks, blowing off the accusations.
Good try, not me
— Aldon Smith (@AldonSmith) July 25, 2016
The league office took notice of the video and is investigating, according to an ESPN report.
Smith offers no other concern about who might be posing as him smoking something and then posting it to his social media account that previously had been in his control.
Shockingly, the NFL is not likely to accept his brief denial tantamount to a sworn affidavit. Neither will the Raiders, who have said they are looking into the matter. The NFL’s substance abuse policy prohibits players who are suspended — Smith is out for the entire 2015 season for his numerous transgressions — from participating in any illegal activity.
Smith, who turns 27 in September, is a brilliant football talent. But we have no clue at this point when or if he’ll ever get to display that again. From pass rusher to passing the buck, Smith’s career has been bogarted from us in the height of his prime.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
