Yahoo Lifestyle Browns coach Freddie Kitchens says team is 'not willing to put up' with Antonio Callaway's missteps
The Cleveland Browns took a bet on wide receiver Antonio Callaway that his talent would outweigh his character concerns when they took him in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL draft.
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That bet looked solid last year when Callaway posted 586 receiving yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last year. This year is off to a much rockier start. Callaway was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Now, Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens is dropping some not-so-subtle hints that Callaway might be walking on thin ice going forward, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com:
"We're not willing to put up with it, OK?’’ Kitchens said of Callaway’s misstep. “When you start talking in terms of that, the person that it's affected has to be willing to commit to doing what's right. So if he's willing to commit to doing what's right, then we're willing to support him in every way that we can, and that's what we're going to do until he proves us wrong.’’
Callaway entered the NFL with a laundry list of red flags from his college career at Florida. That included a suspension for the entire 2017 season from his role in a stolen credit card scam, a failed drug test at the NFL scouting combine, a sexual assault investigation during his freshman year in which he defended himself by saying he was too stoned to desire sex and, surprise, a misdemeanor marijuana possession citation in 2017.
So the fact that Callaway got himself in trouble with the NFL has to be concerning for the Browns.
Despite the frustrating situation, Kitchens defended Callaway in front of reporters Friday night.
“I like the kid,” Kitchens said. “I think he's a good person. Sometimes people lump these sort of things into being a bad person. This is a great kid now. So we're going to support him until he proves us otherwise. He knows what he has to do, though.”
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