De’Veon Smith was expected to be one of the top running backs for the Pittsburgh Maulers for the 2022 season. Instead, he isn’t suiting up for any team at all.
Pittsburgh parted ways with him after he requested pizza at the team hotel instead of chicken salad.
“He crossed the line,” Maulers coach Kirby Wilson said. “So we had to deal with it.” As revealed in the documentary, Wilson and John Peterson, the USFL’s Director of Football Operations, called Smith into a hotel room for a meeting. At that meeting, Wilson told Smith that he was letting him go because of the incident, about which Wilson didn’t go into detail.
On Monday, the Maulers released a statement and seemingly revealed that Smith had actually violated three-team rules in a 24-hour span that actually led to his release.
Smith saw the statement and called the team out for lying on him.
“They really just put out a lie! Y’all really should be ashamed of y’all selves!”
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“See now y’all playing with my character and who I am as a man.”
He then threatened to expose messages to prove that they are indeed lying.
“Now if I send these screenshots from our exact convo who’s the one lying?”
“I was never made aware that I violated any team rules, let alone 3 in a 24hr span. I never disrespected anyone. Coach Kirby and I spoke after being released. In that talk, he said that he’d certainly vouch for my character.”
Smith was one of the USFL’s most recognizable names after he posted a good career at Michigan and starred in the 2020 reboot of the XFL, racking up a league-high 365 rushing yards before the XFL ceased operations.
Hopefully, he gets another shot somewhere else.
