Breaking: Carman rape accusation at Clemson

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(04-30-2022, 10:19 AM)leonardfan40 Wrote: A low level media outlet wrote the story. Why would they? For clicks. If you want to get into conspiracy theories it could be any other team as well trying to get others to jump us to take o line to drop other positions or to allow themselves to trade back since there appeared to be a lack of trade up interest before the draft.

It makes no sense for the bengals to do this. If they were going to they would do it AFTER they drafted his replacement. Why would they put news out there that indicates they will draft an o line high ahead of time? Then everyone who needed o line would jump us in the draft. The fact that they haven’t drafted o line yet should be the final piece of evidence you need to prove they didn’t put that news out themselves. There is no reason to even suggest they did this

It makes no sense for anyone to do this, is the point. They were a "low-level media outlet" that was picked up by Cincinnati media and then spread like wildfire- but only locally. As if by design. If it was a nothing-burger, why would anyone bother? More importantly, why did Zac even dignify it with a response at the presser? "We're following the story on Jackson Carman, no comment at this time..." or whatever he said- following what? There was nothing new in the report. Why would he mention Carman by name? Even that's atypical. Team statements usually say "speculation around one of our players" and keep it broad and vague, so as to not draw attention to the name. 

There's a lot of pointed criticism of the Bengals' scouting department in the article. That pokes a hole in my theory for sure. At the same time, if they wanted it to look unbiased, that's probably the low-hanging fruit. Said criticism of the organization isn't new either. Maybe they were willing to pay that sacrifice.

Either way, I think it's fair to be asking questions about why this came out NOW. Thursday afternoon, just before the draft and instant pick-up across the region (and nowhere else)? Leads me to wonder.