Pittsburgh Maulers Return Overshadowed By Chicken Salad Controversy

Pittsburgh PA

19 April, 2022

1:32 PM

Description

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Pittsburgh Maulers lost to the Tampa Bay Bandits in their return to the USFL Monday, but the game was secondary to a recent chicken salad controversy that cost one of their players his job. The team recently cut running back De'Veon Smith of Michigan for objecting to a chicken salad sandwich for lunch and asking for pizza instead. The incident was captured on video for the "United By Football" series on Fox, which operates the spring professional football league. The video has gotten thousands of hits on various social media platforms. The Maulers released the following statement on the incident: "On the first episode of 'United By Football,' the weekly USFL all-access documentary series on Fox, De'Veon Smith was shown on camera being cut from our team by coach Kirby Wilson. "The show captures hundreds of hours of film with the intent of providing transparency to fans, but unfortunately, much of the context was left out at this moment. Smith had violated three team rules in a 24-hour span, and in this particular incident, disrespected a cafeteria worker, which wasn't captured on camera. "Smith has subsequently reached out directly to coach Wilson to apologize, and asked to be reinstated to the Maulers' roster." Be the first to know what's happening in your community and region. With a free Patch subscription, you'll always be up to date on local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe.