Steve Smith had a lot to get off his chest when he called into Charlotte radio station WFNZ. He was upset at a report that said he refused to take a paycut to stay with Panthers. He then went on to take shots at pretty much everyone, but specifically Panthers GM Dave Gettleman.
Here is what he had to say about the Panthers handling of the Greg Hardy situation via ESPN.
On the morning that he was released, Smith said his agent, Derrick Fox, had scheduled a 9 a.m. appointment to talk to Gettleman about Smith’s future.
Smith, 35, said he then heard on WFNZ — at 8:15 a.m. — that he had been released.
“He doesn’t even have the kahunas to tell us to our face,” Smith said. “We have to hear it from someone else. Then he calls and says, like everyone else says, ‘It wasn’t personal.’
“If the first thing that comes out is, ‘It wasn’t personal’ … Guess what? It was personal. Then he says that [I] could have called at any time. And now that I played well, you’re going to say I was a distraction, I’ve always been a distraction.
“But yet, I didn’t beat my wife. Yeah, I hit some teammates six or seven years ago, but I didn’t beat my wife. I didn’t get arrested for no DUIs. I didn’t fall off no motorcycles. I made mistakes, but building this big old crutch about it as if I pushed their hands.”
At least he acknowledged in the past he has made mistakes. This is just one side of the story, but I doubt the Panthers will publicly state their side. But, Smith got the last laugh on the field on Sunday.