Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane spent part of his press conference on Thursday defending first-round draft pick Maxwell Hairston from sexual assault allegations.
And it was a full-throated defense that brought up the idea that NFL players sometimes are the "victims," Beane said, in such matters because they make a lot of money and other people try to extort them for it.
All this comes on the heels of Hairston being sued for sexual assault a couple of weeks ago for an incident that allegedly happened in 2021 at the University of Kentucky.
"It’s frustrating because in the legal world you can’t sit there and say things back and forth, you’ve got to let it go," Beane told reporters. "But this happened to this young man over four years ago. He gave up his phone to prove [it was false], he took (a) polygraph test.
"This kid didn’t run from it, he answered every single thing. People can make accusations and do things and I have no idea what the agenda is there, but I can tell you every stone we turned over, every door we looked behind, this is a very good young man."
Beane continued vouching for Hairston's character, calling him "a young man you would let in your house, you would let watch your kids, hang out with whoever. He is genuinely a good person, he’s got sisters, he’s got a mother, he’s got a great family, raised the right way.
"I’ve met his parents," Beane continued. "I’ve met his close family. I would feel terrible if someone said that about one of my sons."
For the record: Hairston has not ever been criminally charged in the matter.
Beane wasn't done. Because it is a little-reported but often shared narrative among NFL players when they're in private that they are sometimes targeted with false accusations and/or lawsuits because they are public figures who make a lot of money and could thus be forced to pay to make the accusations go away.
So Beane went there. He said that quiet part out loud.
"I think we need to remember in the world, sometimes these guys — I’m not going to get into it — but we see these accusations. And sometimes these guys can be victims, too," Beane said.
There it is.
That's going to trigger some people. Only a few years ago, Beane saying this would have gotten him canceled or somehow censured because the Me-Too movement and the atmosphere around the country had people talking about always believing the woman.
Lawyers sometimes accused men of victim-blaming if they spoke out on their own behalf. And, of course, part of that was to gain the alleged perpetrator's silence and an advantage. for their clients.
But Beane sees the opposing possibility on behalf of the players.
"They make a lot of money," Beane said. "And I just want to make sure — rarely do people defend them. And that’s hard for me to see sometimes because I’ve seen it.
"We had it here with a player a few years ago that’s no longer here that was wrongly accused. And it’s frustrating and everyone should … anyone that’s met Maxwell Hairston genuinely knows what a great young man he is."
Beane was referring to former Bills punter Matt Araiza. The Bills drafted Araiza in the sixth round in 2022 after his stellar career at San Diego State.
But in August of that year, Araiza was named in a lawsuit as one of multiple men who raped a 17-year-old women at a party. Before the suit proceeded, before he ever played in a regular-season game for the team, the Bills cut Araiza.
He was cleared in May of 2023, and after getting workouts with multiple teams, Araiza was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs in February of 2024.
Perhaps the most infamous example of a player being falsely accused is that of Brian Banks, who spent five years in prison for a rape and kidnapping he did not commit.
None of this suggests allegations, charges and even lawsuits should not be believed or taken seriously. But Beane is now the public tip of the spear on the idea that none of those automatically mean guilt.
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