The ESPN analyst used his connections to get a better understanding about what happened Tuesday between IK Enemkpali and Geno Smith. Clark’s basic understanding is the same as what was reported shortly after the incident.
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The story is that Smith owed Enemkpali $600 for a plane ticket. Enemkpali invited Smith to attend his football camp, but the Jets quarterback didn’t attend because of a death. Enemkpali wanted Smith to reimburse him for the plane ticket, and that’s when trouble started.
“It was over flights and over camps not attended and not necessarily the fact that he didn’t go, because he understood the reason, but I’ve dealt with IK a lot,” Clark said on Mike & Mike. “This guy is really tight about money, he really is. So whereas I’ve seen other players have this happen and kind of just move on from it, he couldn’t, and you know, a lot of people are saying you don’t punch a guy over that amount of money. It became about the fact that Geno wasn’t necessarily apologetic and being in a way remorseful about the money when saying he was going to pay IK back. You know, he didn’t, and he was rather smug about it. So these guys got into it earlier in camp about this money.”
Clark also adds that Smith was partly responsible, although Enemkpali was still very much in the wrong.
“My report says Geno put his finger in his face and told the guy, ‘Well, you’re not going to do anything about it.’”
Clark added that the two had been jawing about the money for a while and things escalated Tuesday.
“This wasn’t the first time they had an issue over this same situation and nothing came from it the first time. You know, the first time they got into an argument, you know, words were said, disrespect thrown both ways, both guys separate and walk away. So when you have that situation happen one time, I’m sure a lot of people weren’t expecting it to get where it’s gone.”
Clark said Smith pressing charges is a “possibility,” although Clark isn’t sure what the quarterback’s intentions are. He also said it will be very hard for a team to take a chance on Enemkpali after this.
