BroBible
Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback Skylar Thompson was reportedly robbed in Ireland. This incident comes as the NFL announced plans to further expand its international series.
Is that such a good idea?
I would imagine the NFL is going to increase its security measures in other countries in response to this incident. I would also imagine there is more to this story that we have yet to find out and may never know.
According to Tom Pelissero, Thompson was “jumped and robbed” in Dublin on Friday night. He suffered “minor injuries” but is “OK” and with the team.
A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Steelers issued the following statement:
“We are aware of a situation involving Skylar Thompson on Friday night in Dublin. We will have no further comment at this time as we are working with NFL security to gather more information regarding the incident.”
It will be interesting to learn more about Thompson’s whereabouts at the time of the attack. It will also be interesting to learn more about the time of attack. I cannot imagine he was outside of Temple Bar at dinner time. My completely uninformed hypothesis is that he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been after hours, but I am only able to speculate based on my own experience in foreign countries.
In the meantime, all we know for certain is what Pelissero was able to report on early Sunday morning prior to kickoff. Thompson will be on the sideline during the game.
However, the 28-year-old quarterback is currently on Injured Reserve so he was not going to suit up for the game regardless of what happened while overseas. Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph are active.
This unfortunate incident took place just a few hours before Roger Goodell announced plans to play even more NFL games in countries beyond the United States. He said the league wants to stage 16 international games per year so that every team will play one international game per year.
Sunday’s game is the first regular-season foray into Ireland. Melbourne is next. Then Asia. Then who knows!
“We are serious about being a global sport,” Goodell said.
With this plan in mind, Skylar Thompson’s robbery in Dublin on Friday raises questions about whether this international expansion is such a good idea. Ireland is supposed to be one of the safer countries on the schedule. Is this a one-off incident or did the NFL fail one to keep one of its players safe? We’ll see.
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