Philadelphia Eagles running back Darren Sproles noted on Thursday that he felt “disrespected” in New Orleans as a member of the Saints, who traded him this past offseason after indicating privately that they were planning on releasing him.
That’s one of the issues that the veteran has with the Saints organization (via NJ.com).
I felt disrespected there,’’ said Sproles, who has helped the Eagles to a 3-1 start to the season.
Listen, I understand this is business and all of that, but (when they talked about trading him) they put it up on Twitter. That’s how I found out. There was a screen shot and a friend of mine texted it to me. I felt they did me wrong.
First, Sean (Payton) told me they were going to cut me. Then I find out on Twitter they’re trading me. That’s just not right.
Under no circumstance should a player find out from anyone outside of his agent or the team that’s trading him that he’s going to be calling a new city home. And in reality, Sproles has a legitimate gripe with his former team.
As someone who played an important role in the Saints success over the years, Sproles did deserve more from the organization. But no one ever said that the NFL wasn’t a cutthroat industry, because in reality it is. We have seen that story repeated over and over again. See the Patriots and Logan Mankins most recently.
For his part, Sproles must be feeling downright giddy that his Eagles are 3-1 on the season while the Saints have lost three of their first four games. It has to be some type of vindication that he’s played a major role on a first-place team, while New Orleans has struggled without him.
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