It started with a dare.
Ryan Clark, an NFL analyst for ESPN, gave a blow-by-blow Wednesday morning of how the drama between Jets quarterback Geno Smith and now-former reserve linebacker IK Enemkpali unfolded after speaking with two players who were in the locker room.
Smith “put his fingers” in his teammate’s face before he was sucker-punched, sustaining a broken jaw that will sideline him for at least six weeks.
“These guys were in each other’s face,” Clark said on ESPN’s radio show “Mike & Mike.” “Geno put his finger in his face and told the guy, ‘Well, you’re not going to do anything about it.’”
He was wrong, as the tough-guy comments caused Enemkpali to knock Smith to the ground with a single punch. The trouble started when Enemkpali laid out $600 for Smith to travel to a football camp in July. Weeks went by and he didn’t get reimbursed.
Former Steelers safety Ryan ClarkAP“It became about the fact that Geno wasn’t necessarily apologetic and being in a way remorseful about the money when saying he was going to pay IK back and he didn’t,” said Clark, a former safety with the Steelers, Redskins and Giants. “He was rather smug about it.”
Clark knows from his own dealings with Enemkpali that the hulking 24-year-old doesn’t mess around when it comes to his money.
“This guy is really tight about money, he really is,” Clark said. “He couldn’t [move on].”
He added he’s spoken to Enemkpali since the fight, saying he was “extremely apologetic.”
