By Glenn Naughton
When the New York Jets chose Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft, there were plenty of fans who questioned the wisdom of the pick, based primarily on Lee’s size (6′ 1′ 232) and where the Jets would be able to fit him in to Todd Bowles’ scheme.
There were seemingly no concerns about Lee’s attitude or off-field conduct. It was all about football. However, it may be time to be more worried about Darron Lee the person, than Darron Lee, the player. That is, of course, if Lee’s most recent eyebrow raising incident did in fact unfold as described by a fellow attendee at the Governers Ball Music Festival yesterday.
Lee was said to be seen screaming at and “manhandling” a woman at the event before “squaring up and threatening” teammate Leonard Williams (referred to as “big guy” in tweets) who had placed himself between Lee and the woman to bring an end to the spat.
Williams responded by grabbing Lee and carrying him away from the woman whom he reportedly tried to grab and pull away with him, as shown in the video below.
Lenoard Williams…Pro Bowl babysitter?
Lee having to be removed by Williams after being ushered away from the woman a first time makes this the second time this offseason that his conduct could be put under the microscope in questioning his maturity. The first being a bar fight in which Lee said he was attacked while minding his own business. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt in that case, it appears the second one is a bad look and one that brings the legitimacy of the first altercation in to question.
Throw in a couple of bizarre twitter meltdowns that led to Lee deleting his entire history and Jets fans are left wondering if what you see is what you get with Lee, or if sometime in the distant future, we’ll be able to look back at a great player who, as a 23-year old kid, hit a few off-field speed bumps in the early stages of his career.