BEARS GET DEFENSIVE, PICK LB ROQUAN SMITH IN FIRST ROUND
Bears look to take defense to another level with Georgia ILB Roquan Smith
ARLINGTON, Texas — The revelation of racist tweets that Josh Allen posted years ago didn’t stop the Bills from trading up to draft the Wyoming quarterback at No. 7 overall Thursday night.
Late Wednesday, tweets surfaced from 2012 and 2013, when Allen was in high school. They contained racial slurs against African- Americans, including the N- word multiple times, though Allen said some of the tweets were pop- culture references.
After the Bills traded the 12th, 53rd and 56th picks to the Buccaneers — who also sent back a seventh- round pick — to draft Allen, the quarterback apologized, saying he was “young and dumb.”
“It was very stressful — I was so emotional about it because that’s not who I am as a person,” he said. “I don’t want my teammates [ and] my coaching staff thinking that’s who I am.”
Asked why the tweets emerged on the eve of the draft — and who might have revealed them — Allen was cryptic.
“Somebody knew what they were doing,” he said. “It’s out there. It was my fault. I can’t blame anybody for my own mistakes. Success is the best revenge.”
Allen, who once seemed at least a possibility for the Browns with the first overall pick, didn’t experience a precipitous slide the way Mississippi offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil did two years ago. Minutes before the 2016 draft, videos were leaked of Tunsil smoking marijuana through a gas mask. A candidate to be taken first, Tunsil instead fell to the Dolphins at 13th.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane said the team — including owner Terry Pegula — did its due diligence Thursday regarding Allen’s tweets. Coach Sean McDermott said he had a long talk with Allen about what he wrote and hoped he would learn from it.
He’ll have a chance to start. AJ McCarron and Nathan Peterman are the only other quarterbacks on the Bills’ roster.