The Pittsburgh Maulers start their USFL season Monday night after Sunday’s game was postponed due to inclement weather, and they could be facing a few questions about roster construction and organizational decisions. The USFL released a “United By Football” documentary in the weeks leading up to Week 1 of the league’s re-boot, showcasing teams’ training camp practices and locker room buildup.
In the documentary, a clip went viral regarding the Pittsburgh Maulers cutting running back De’Veon Smith. The reason Pittsburgh head coach Kirby Wilson released Smith is an interesting one, to say the least, as revealed in the documentary.
As revealed in the clip, Smith wanted pizza over chicken salad. He asked a hotel worker in Birmingham, Alabama (where all USFL games are being played) if they had pizza instead of chicken salad. When Smith was asked if it would be a problem if that wasn’t possible, he claimed he only said “yes” before walking away.
“Any disrespect of football or members of staff, USFL, etc. will not be tolerated,” Wilson said. “He crossed the line, so we had to deal with it…Someone’s hurt feelings are a distant second to the greater good of the team. And we’ve moved on and turned that page, and I’m happy we did it.”
Smith didn’t say much about the incident, only tweeting when the documentary came out.
Smith was an undrafted free agent out of Michigan in 2017, spending time on the Miami Dolphins and Washington practice squads. The 27-year-old was also on the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football and the Tampa Bay Vipers of the XFL. He played with the Aviators in The Spring League in 2020.
Cutting Smith over a choice of food is a bad look for the USFL in its first weekend of action. Kirby Wilson will potentially have to answer questions about it sooner rather than later.
KVSP