• last year
Examining how Isaiah Buggs being benched impacts Detroit Lions defense.
Transcript
00:00 Isaiah Buggs has been benched for week one's game.
00:03 John, that kind of came out of left field and Allen Park.
00:06 Buggs had that questionable social media comment,
00:09 and you know, went abuzz with the media, the fans are like,
00:11 and now he's being benched.
00:12 What do you make of that news?
00:15 - Yeah, Vito, real interesting.
00:16 Obviously everybody caught wind.
00:18 Something was going on with Isaiah Buggs
00:20 when he scrubbed a lot of mentions of the Lions
00:23 off of his social media.
00:25 And that's usually a telltale sign.
00:27 Maybe a player's getting dealt.
00:29 Maybe there's some issues contractually.
00:31 I thought maybe initially the Lions
00:32 had asked for some money back.
00:34 Typically teams will go to players
00:36 looking to renegotiate or restructure contracts.
00:39 So that tends to upset players.
00:40 So people understood something was wrong with Isaiah Buggs
00:43 based off of his social media activity.
00:46 And then in the locker room,
00:47 I think in five, six years going into the locker room
00:50 quite regularly, I hadn't ever heard an NFL player
00:53 just openly disclose that they were not gonna play a game.
00:57 So I thought that that was real telling
00:59 just based off of the regime,
01:01 kind of knowing the tight-lipped nature of football players
01:04 and how they wanna keep information close to the vest.
01:08 So obviously Isaiah Buggs,
01:11 he didn't want everybody to run with the narrative
01:12 that his social media activity was related to the Lions.
01:16 It's pretty clear he's not gonna be happy as a competitor
01:20 in the opening contest in front of the eyes
01:22 of the National Football League and the NFL world
01:25 and the entire nation watching that contest.
01:28 He's not gonna be really thrilled to be benched
01:31 and not have an opportunity to play.
01:33 Part of me though, Vito, thinks,
01:34 could this be Dan Campbell playing games with the media?
01:38 Could he be sending a message to the Chiefs?
01:40 Because it's so out of left field, like you said,
01:43 players don't just come out in the media
01:44 and do these kinds of things.
01:45 But while obviously the conspiracy theorist in me
01:49 thinks that for a second, I do think that a player,
01:53 if they end up getting told by a team
01:55 after all the hard work that they've done,
01:57 that they're not gonna play,
01:59 they're naturally gonna be upset.
02:00 And that's what you want from a player.
02:01 You want them to be upset,
02:03 but maybe you don't go to social media,
02:05 you don't put those kinds of things publicly.
02:08 You just understand, put your nose to the grindstone
02:11 and try to win your job back.
02:12 I think that might be the better approach
02:15 for a member of the roster.
02:17 So stay tuned.
02:18 I don't know how the coaching staff is gonna react
02:21 to Isaiah Buggs putting that kind of information
02:24 out into the atmosphere,
02:25 just releasing that he's not gonna play.
02:27 So it was really unique and really bizarre in some way
02:31 to kind of have that kind of discourse in week one.
02:34 But in the end, we at least know the defensive line
02:38 is always looking to improve.
02:39 And maybe Benito Jones, Broderick Martin
02:41 are gonna have an opportunity to play a little bit more.
02:43 But for Isaiah Buggs, week one is going to be viewed
02:47 potentially from the bench
02:48 where he'll be not playing against the Chiefs.
02:52 - And all we know, Jon, truly,
02:53 is that something is bugging Isaiah Buggs.
02:55 John, thanks for all the time.

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