Raiders edge rusher Aldon Smith is under scrutiny from the NFL after a suspicious post appeared on Smith’s Periscope account roughly two weeks ago, according Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link). CSNBayArea.com was the first outlet to report on the video, which contains the voice of a man — who purportedly sounds like Smith — possibly engaging in illegal drug activity.
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Smith, of course, is suspended until mid-November for violating the league’s substance abuse policy following a DUI last year, so any repeat offense could have serious implications. The video shows an unidentified female and the hands and voice of a man (who is never shown on screen) appearing to smoke marijuana as the man engages in what he calls a “fire up session” and continues to tape the incident despite the woman’s protestations, claiming “we’ve got zero followers.” The video, one of 31 on Smith’s account, was posted July 8 and has been archived ever since.
The league’s substance abuse policy states that any player in stage three of the plan must engage in “abstinence from substances of abuse throughout the entire period of his banishment,” so if the NFL finds that Smith did indeed use illicit drugs during his suspension, he is unlikely to be reinstated in November. Smith, for his part, appears to have issued a denial through his Twitter account: “Good try, not me.”
An immensely talent player when his head is right, Smith played in seven games for Oakland last season before agreeing to a two-year extension this spring. The deal, worth $11.5MM, contains no guaranteed money and is heavily incentivized, so the Raiders can easily cut bait if they feel the need to.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So much talent being wasted. Only Raiders player I will ever root for and easily was my favorite player on the Niners.
Dumb as hell. Not “abstaining from substances of abuse” I can understand. Still stupid, but I understand it due to potential addiction, willpower, thinking you won’t get caught, etc. But throwing a video of it out there on the Internet is just about the least sensible thing you could possibly do short of lighting up right in the commissioner’s face.