What started as a touching football story rivaling that of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger’s has devolved into an exposition of potential bigoted actions by a player on the Detroit Lions.
On Sunday, Lions lineman Dan Skipper made the first start of his career after languishing on practice squads and only seeing spot snaps for five years. However, another player wanted the world to know of Skipper’s alleged racial indiscretions through the Lions’ 36-27 win over the Commanders and the team’s subsequent celebration for Skipper.
Arik Armstead vs Lions OT Dan Skipper is the most random feud ever, but this is a pretty sizeable allegation lmfao pic.twitter.com/jIb7RTLyk1
— karan (@905Kar) September 19, 2022
With Evan Brown at center and right guard, Logan Stenberg filling in the Lions’ brand new interior, Skipper and the group helped Detroit gain 191 yards on the ground, assisting wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s fruitful day.
San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead posted when he recognized Skipper during the team’s celebration of his breakout moment.
On Monday, Armstead reposted the NFL’s locker room video of Skipper on his Instagram Stories with the caption, “So we cheering for racist now? Called Multiple players the N-word in games. Hard ER.”
Arik Armstead has never played against him? pic.twitter.com/YGoHWIbTKZ
— Humanzze 🦦 (@humanzze) September 19, 2022
It wasn’t immediately clear if Armstead was referencing NFL games, preseason or coming up in college, etc., as Skipper has only appeared in 14 NFL games since 2017; none against Armstead. The accusation has now placed speculation on the player lauded for tenacity and finally having his time in the limelight.
Skipper played guard Sunday after injuries devastated Detroit’s O-line, having never made a start in the NFL. Head coach Dan Campbell was proud of Skipper, a six-year NFL player that signed over 20 contracts and bounced to numerous practice squads.
Now the University of Arkansas alum and Colorado native received a standing ovation from his teammates after the game.
“Hey, Skip, nice freaking job,” Campbell said in a video posted to the team’s Twitter account as the squad chanted “Skip, Skip, Skip.”
Awesome moment for NFL journeyman, Dan Skipper, this past Sunday getting his first career NFL start after 6 seasons 👏 pic.twitter.com/jWVv9Kqqbc
— WeAreBigGuys (@WeAreBigGuys) September 20, 2022
The scene was far from the scene during preseason on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series, where Skipper was cut from the team and then signed to the practice squad.
“Dan’s been here for two years now since we’ve been here,” Campbell said postgame. “He knows our offense in and out; he knows all the positions. And look, this isn’t the easiest offense to just walk right in and learn.
“We just felt like Skip, man, has a real good understanding of it. And we felt like even though he’s never played guard in a game, we just feel like he was going to hold up, you know. We trust him, I trust him.
Skipper was the first player at the Lions’ podium for postgame interviews after the Commanders’ game letting the world know how much the game meant to him.
“It’s been such a long road,” he said. “Six teams, I’ve been cut all over,” Skipper said. “Just having my wife and kids here and everything else, it really comes full circle. It’s hard to explain. It kinda makes everything all worth it. All the chaos, just the trails, playing, it’s kinda the cherry on top.”
However, now the allegations hover over his breakout moment.
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