Torrey Green, an undrafted rookie linebacker from Utah State who was waived by the Falcons, apologized to the team and contended that he’d be exonerated of rape and sexual-assault allegations in a statement released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.
Green was released Thursday after the team became aware of the allegations late Wednesday evening.
“Our client Torrey Green would like to apologize to Arthur Blank, Dan Quinn, Jeff Ulbrich and the entire Falcons organization for this distraction and the unfortunate accusations,” said Zack Teperman of ZTPR, a California-based public-relations and crisis-management firm. “At this time Torrey has complete faith that any further investigation will prove his complete innocence and he will be exonerated.
“It’s a shame his name is being dragged out there in the media and that this young man’s bright future in the NFL is taking a major hit. Torrey will continue to cooperate with authorities if needed, and looks forward to his next NFL opportunity.”
Four women — who were not associates — separately reported being sexually assaulted by Green to the Logan City Police Department in 2015, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Three of those women were students and also informed school officials.
No charges have been filed, but Green was aware of the situation.
He told the Tribune that “everyone makes mistakes” and questioned why the paper was pursuing the story since he was trying to make an NFL team.
“This isn’t just Salt Lake, this isn’t just Logan, this isn’t just Utah, the whole U.S. is about to hear about something that’s blown out of proportion basically and that’s going to ruin a young man’s career,” Green told the Tribune.
Prosecutors are re-visited the cases.
The Tribune has accounts of the encounters from the alleged victims using partial names.
Green was considered a long shot to make the Falcons.
“He needed to go and take care of his situation,” general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “We needed to do the best thing for the organization.”
Since the Michael Vick federal dogfighting case in 2007, the Falcons have steered clear of players with character issues. They routinely remove players with sketchy backgrounds from their draft board.
Last season, when linebacker Prince Shembo was charged with animal cruelty in the death of a dog, he was immediately released.
Green played in 32 games during his four-year career at Utah State, including starting 10 games. He finished his career with 90 tackles, which included seven sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss, while adding two interceptions, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup.
He signed with the Falcons on May 5. His bio was immediately removed from the team’s website Thursday and new rosters were printed with his name removed to hand out to fans and the media.
The NFL, while trying to reach out to female fans over the past few seasons, has cracked down on players with domestic cases in the wake of the Ray Rice domestic-violence case, the Adrian Peterson child-abuse case and the Darren Sharper rape cases in multiple states.
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