"We've all been in locker rooms where inappropriate things are said, that are over the top and sound highly inappropriate to the rest of the world," he said. "But I've been in some locker rooms through high school, college and the league, it sounds crazy, but players for the most part just laugh it off and, 'Hey, that guy's just being crazy.' The tape itself, it wasn't evidence of anything, other than a coach saying some inappropriate things."
Fujita has been a staunch advocate for player safety, and his supposed involvement in the bounty program, would seem to cast him as a hypocrite. The 33-year-old, who is socially active and a community leader everywhere he's played, was asked if the assertion that he's a contradictory figure is one of the things that bothers him most.
"Absolutely. For me, moving forward, I have a master's degree in education. One of my goals is when I'm done playing, I want to go back and I want to teach. All right?" he said, smacking his hand on the podium. "If this kind of thing prevents me from being able to get hired, I'm not OK with that."
Fujita remains optimistic his appeal will be overturned. He's looking forward to being able to focus his energies on playing football and "having the best season of my career."
He has been given no date by the league when his case will be resolved.
"Generally you hope things like this will be expedited," he said. "I'm waiting on it. I've got a lot of teammates and coaches who are depending on me and depending on that information. Hopefully it gets resolved sooner rather than later. I can't tell you how much I would love to be able to just move past this."
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