Bengals running back Joe Mixon decided not to speak to reporters on Sunday, his first availability after being cleared of menacing charges on Thursday. He also made it clear that there are four reporters to whom he will not speak, regardless of affiliation.
Although Ben Baby of ESPN.com listed four specific outlets — ESPN.com, the Cincinnati Enquirer, Sports Illustrated, and Pro Football Network — Mixon tells PFT that he’s not boycotting any outlet. His problems are with four specific reporters, regardless of where they work.
Mixon listed the four reporters for PFT: Ben Baby, Kelsey Conway, James Rapien, and Jay Morrison.
The bulk of Mixon’s frustration seems to be directed at Baby. In response to Baby’s tweet explaining that Mixon said reporters had been “disrespectful” but that Mixon didn’t elaborate on the reasons for his assertion, Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer, tweeted this: “You know exactly why we don’t talk to you. You consistently look for the negative and always are putting the players down. We have given you ample chances to correct the situation and you refuse. You made your bed now sleep in it. Don’t tweet to people that you don’t know why.”
Schaffer, speaking to PFT, pointed out that Baby already seems to be retaliating, by concluding his latest article with this gratuitous swipe at Mixon: “After reaching his first Pro Bowl in 2021, Mixon’s success rate was 41.0% in 2022, which was slightly below the league average of 41.7% among players with 150 or more carries, per NFL Next Gen Stats data.” [Editor’s note: What does that even mean?]
Mixon intends to cooperate with reporters generally. But he does not intend to answer questions from those four specific reporters, regardless of which outlet they’re affiliated with.
