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What was the motivation for leaking the old Josh Allen tweets?


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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been re-examining the 2018 draft to read the evaluations of Josh Allen.

 

In doing so, I came across the article below which included the drama which came out about the old Josh Allen tweets.  Back then I felt that it should have been a non-issue considering that date of the original tweet and the fact that what we wrote was seemingly meant in jest. 

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/offensive-tweets-josh-allen-surface-hours-nfl-draft-024847843.html

 

Fortunately Allen and the Bills both handeled that situation very well and rightfully it’s now a dead issue.  

 

We’ll never know who exactly leaked the tweets.  What we do know is that Allen’s management team had him delete the tweets last January as he was preparing the process of entering the NFL draft.  It’s  no coincidence that the screenshot of the old tweets were released just 24 hours before the actual draft.  These screen caps of deleted tweets didn’t just randomly appear the day before the draft for no reason.  

 

But what do you think was the motivation for doing it?  I have thought of 2 possible scenarios:

 

1.) Malice - someone (either a fan, competing  agent, or journalist) was holding onto these tweets for months (maybe years) and waited until the last minute to release them to the press to hurt Allen’s draft status, in turn costing him millions of dollars and potentially sabotaging his career before it gets started.  

 

2.) Strategy - the tweets were strategically released by a competing agent or an executive of an NFL team positioned toward the bottom of the draft.  The idea would be that the negative press would scare the teams at the top away, allowing Allen to fall to the bottom of the Round 1 much like Laramie Tunsill.  Essentially they would get a Top 10 pick at the bottom of the round without having to trade up.   

 

There’s also the potential it could have been a strategic reason by a competing agent.   With Allen dropping, it could allow other clients (possibly other highly rated QB’s) the opportunity to get taken higher, make and more money, which in turn allows the agency to profit.  

 

I would like to think that members of NFL teams are on the up-and-up and would never stoop to such unethical measures for professional gain, but I’ve been surprised before.  

 

Any any other suggestions?

 

Either way, whether it’s Allen or Tunsill, I think the way that people deliberately try to make these young athletes look bad is terrible.   Especially when you consider the type of character than Allen appears to have shown this season.   Very glad this behind both of those athletes and I hope behavior like this does not become common before the draft.  

 

 

Edited by BillyWhiteShows
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2 minutes ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

 

 

I would like to think that members of NFL teams are on the up-and-up and would never stoop to such unethical measures for professional gain, but I’ve been surprised before.  

 

   

 

 

 

 

Billy, we live in an era where an unnamed multiple super bowl championship team cheats regularly, so...

 

Great post, my friend, and I have no more to add.  I think you were spot on.

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4 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I would not be surprised if it was the Bills FO

 

Ok but knowing the type of character that the Pegulas, Beane and McDermott look for, it seems completely out of character to do this.

 

Beane and McDermott don’t strike me as the hypocritical type.  They seem to walk the walk and I really can’t see them hurt someone like this to benefit themselves.

5 minutes ago, CommonCents said:

I was under the impression that the Pats wanted Allen until the tweets were released. We all know BB wouldn’t do such a thing. 

 

It would make sense given their reputation but I think it’s a bit too obvious and don’t think NE would risk a stunt like that with their past

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One thing about this that I thought was strange is that I recall Allen said that only the Bills reached out to him after the release of the tweets.  If other teams were interested in Allen, wouldn't they have reached out to Allen as well?

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1 minute ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

Ok but knowing the type of character that the Pegulas, Beane and McDermott look for, it seems completely out of character to do this.

 

Beane and McDermott don’t strike me as the hypocritical type.  They seem to walk the walk and I really can’t see them hurt someone like this to benefit themselves.

this is my hope.

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3 minutes ago, hemma said:

I would not be surprised if there was at least one jackass out there (from virtually any country) that collects all media history on potential top picks

as a form of blackmail. 

 

Blackmail from someone not directly connected with the draft.  I didn’t think of that, but that’s a definite possibility too

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People... this is a full-time occupation for people, going through twitter and social media just to kill someone when they were in grade 7.

 

How is this a surprise with what has gone on the last year?

 

 

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But seriously, it was widely reported during the draft that the Cardinals desperately wanted Allen and KNEW they were going to have to find a way to beat Buffalo to him. When the Bills picked him, it was immediately reported on NFL Network that the Cardinals were "absolutely heartbroken". Considering how low they picked and how much of a longshot it was going to be for them to be able to get Allen....could it have been them? I mean, if it was an NFL team, they make the most sense to me.

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5 minutes ago, hemma said:

I would not be surprised if there was at least one jackass out there (from virtually any country) that collects all media history on potential top picks

as a form of blackmail. 

I believe I read that the tweets were deleted at some point in the fall, and that the screen shots were taken in September 2017

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1 minute ago, row_33 said:

People... this is a full-time occupation for people, going through twitter and social media just to kill someone when they were in grade 7.

 

How is this a surprise with what has gone on the last year?

 

 

 

Right, and it’s pretty sad.  The reason it’s being done is because this thing has gotten so much media attention.

 

In the case of Allen though, do you think they wanted him to just look bad or was there a strategic purpose based on the draft?

2 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I believe I read that the tweets were deleted at some point in the fall, and that the screen shots were taken in September 2017

 

I don’t know about the exact date but I’m pretty sure the tweets were actually deleted months before the draft

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12 minutes ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

Right, and it’s pretty sad.  The reason it’s being done is because this thing has gotten so much media attention.

 

 

 

and it's all one-sided agenda-wise, these people have no trouble sweeping it under the carpet if they like the offender...

 

 

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10 minutes ago, gobills1212 said:

Sorry... i REALLY wanted Rosen. 

I can admit i was wrong and now would rather no other. 

 

 

we don't really know anything for another 3 years how it should have gone...

 

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4 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I believe I read that the tweets were deleted at some point in the fall, and that the screen shots were taken in September 2017

 

There are bots that sweep the web on schedule, usually for competitive purposes but also, to act as 'librarians'.

The Wayback Machine  has 345 Billion Archived Web pages, so as an example, you can check and see what was happening at buffalobills.com years ago. 

I don't know if Wayback does twitter accounts, but I'm sure someone does somewhere.

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4 minutes ago, hemma said:

 

There are bots that sweep the web on schedule, usually for competitive purposes but also, to act as 'librarians'.

The Wayback Machine  has 345 Billion Archived Web pages, so as an example, you can check and see what was happening at buffalobills.com years ago. 

I don't know if Wayback does twitter accounts, but I'm sure someone does somewhere.

 

It doesn’t 

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I don't know that there is any practical way  to get solid answers as to who dug up the old tweets.  Not knowing who, I don't know how much point there is to speculating on the motive.  As has been suggested, it could have been done out of personal malice or the competitive world of player agents.  I suppose it could have been some political extremist- some liberal who thought Allen should be punished in the court of public opinion, or even a white supremist who thought Josh Allen might be a fellow white supremist at heart and could be forced out in the open by digging up his past.

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14 minutes ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

How can you retrieve old tweets that have seen deleted months ago, though?  

 

This is why I think it was definitely deliberate and calculated 

 

I work in the numbers side of a forensic accounting firm, I've watched the IT gurus retrieve amazing things upon request.

 

 

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