Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead spoke to the media on Thursday and addressed recent social media backlash.
Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was suspended for three games earlier this week for an illegal hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence; when Al-Shaair’s suspension was upheld on Wednesday, the Texans veteran posted the following on Instagram. In the wake of the post, Armstead “liked” the post and caused a stir among the Jaguars’ fan-base.
To watch Armstead’s reaction to the social media frenzy, view above.
“Been some talk online. I saw some people talking about me liking Azeez’s post. I wanted to address that because everyone has their opinions. First off, I love Trevor. He’s a great teammate. Great player, great person and what happened, seeing him getting injured, was terrible. You never want to see that happen to a teammate of yours,” Armstead said. “Also, too, Azeez is a great friend of mine. We were locker mates for four years right next to each other. We have a great relationship as well, too. It was a weird situation for me, for sure, seeing my teammate get injured but also a friend of mind being in a situation like that. He was definitely in the wrong. Made a bang-bang play that I wish that could have back but to see the ridicule and him being ostracized and the way he is and the remarks that people were making about it is also terrible.
“I feel like I can support my great teammate Trevor and also I can support a friend in a rough situation when people are being racist toward him and a lot of hateful things being said about him. I know his character. He’s a good dude. And I talked t him and told him what he did was wrong, he made a mistake, but that’s what happens when you’re sometimes in football games. Just wanted to address that first, that I spoke with both of them. I spoke with Trevor too, if he saw the like or whatever that people were talking about and me and him spoke about it and me and him are good as well, too. He completely understands it. It was good to have a conversation with him and on him, too, and see how he was doing.”
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