If you’ve watched Hard Knocks before you’ve surely seen the scenes of the head coach or GM having to cut players during roster cut downs. You see someone tell the player to grab their playbook and see the coach or GM. The player knows what’s coming and he goes into the coach or GM’s office to hear them tell him he’s been cut.
We’ve seen it go down like that on Hard Knocks so I just kinda assumed that’s how it always goes down.
Apparently that’s not how it always goes down. When the Chiefs cut Jeremy Maclin, they did it via voicemail — so says Jeremy Maclin in this interview with Mike Florio on PFT Live. There has to be more to the story here. Dorsey is usually straight up so this seems odd. (Update: My understanding is that they did eventually talk over the phone so this might be overblown)
Here’s the exchange when Florio asked Maclin how he found out he was cut:
Maclin: “Through a voicemail.”
Florio: From who?
Maclin: “John Dorsey.”
Florio: What was your reaction when you found out via voicemail?
Maclin: “I was upset, I was shocked. Apparently, they had been trying to trade me for two or three months. Which who knows if that’s true or not? I would just think that . . . a guy who is going into his ninth year would know if he’s being shopped or not. It is what it is. I still have respect for Big Red, still have respect for the organization. I’m not going to bad mouth anybody or talk any dirt on anybody. It was an unfortunate situation. They felt like they didn’t want me as a player anymore, so it is what it is. I’m happy with where I am right now, and I think that might be the last time I talk about what I call my former life. So I don’t think I want to talk about that anymore.”
Welp.