First and foremost, there is absolutely no way that this interaction was as funny in person as it is in the comedic dramatization I'm envisioning. When I read that tweet I see a youthful and exuberant Josh Allen running up to his elder in Kelvin Benjamin and patting him on the knee as he sits on the bench in stained sweatpants and asking him if he wants to have a catch, only to be shot down with the type of ruthless vigor that damages a kid's psyche well past adolescence. That, of course, is quite a bit of hyperbole, but if you can't see shades of Charlie Brown dejectedly sulking away when you read that Josh Allen couldn't coax a couple pregame 7 routes out of a former first round pick who, at that point, had all of 8 catches in 5 games then I don't want to know you. Regardless of how common (or uncommon) it might be for a player to turn down a chance to create a little more chemistry with a rookie quarterback prior to a game, this is objectively another bad look for someone whose potential is going to die looking at its watch while being stood up waiting for him at the doorstep of receiving relevance. Having turned down Josh Allen for some much needed reps, it's now official that the most initiative Kelvin Benjamin has ever taken in changing his reputation to something other than that of an overweight wideout with suspect hands and a lousy work ethic was when he blamed a former MVP, in Cam Newton, for all of those shortcomings. Kelvin Benjamin is literally nothing if not a cautionary tale that has way too many snooze-worthy chapters to get through. That's not to say he's the first or last player to have opted out of running routes for a rookie quarterback due to differing pregame routines, but he's probably pretty close to the first player who has done so with one heavy foot rested firmly on the fringe of the league in which he makes a living. I appreciate the use of the "say it with confidence and you won't be questioned" method, but something tells me that abject apathy can only bide you so much time when you're not getting your work done on the field. The media, as it tends to do, most certainly made this a bigger deal than it was, but considering the amount of fingers he manages to point, Kelvin Benjamin should really be a lot better at catching a football. If only there were a time in which he could sneak in some more practice doing so...
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