The Cincinnati Bengals is hoping that the upcoming season will end the franchise’s three-year playoff drought. The Bengals know that in order to get back to the postseason, it’ll need to step things up in a major way on the defensive end, as well as get strong contributions from all of its offensive players, not just Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, and Ja’Marr Chase.
However, one of those stars recently revealed just how negative some of the Bengals fans were to him on social media and the negative impact it had on him.
“I feel like last year I was in my head a little bit,” wide receiver Andrei Iosivas said, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. “I had those drops in those games and people were telling me to kill myself and all that kind of stuff. I never had that kind of stuff happen to me before. So it got in my head a little bit when people — you know, when your DMs are flooded with people telling you to kill yourself.”
“Just not letting outside noise get to me and letting circumstances get to me,” Iosivas added. “I know I’m a great player so [I’m] not letting people’s opinions or things in the building kind of just irritate me.”
People reacted to the brutal news on social media.
“Nobody wants to talk about it, but this is a result of sports betting. People losing their next paycheck because a drop cost them a parlay. NFL needs to ban the apps that profit off of gambling addiction,” one fan wroet on Twitter.
“To the folks commenting–being pissed he drops passes is cool & expected. Telling him to kill himself isn’t. If you’re endorsing that kind of talk or supporting it, get some help. That’s no way to live life,” someone else added.
“The people who send vile tweets/ig comments/ dms to players on any NFL team don’t deserve to call themselves fans of that team,” one fan added.
Hopefully, people remember this season that athletes are real people with emotions and feelings.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.