Larry Brown Sports

The sexual preference of NFL free agent Kerry Rhodes has been discussed the past week, and now the safety’s alleged ex-boyfriend is outing him.

Rhodes’ sexuality was first questioned by gossip/rumor site MediaTakeOut, which posted pictures of Rhodes with a “male friend” while on vacation. One picture showed Rhodes with his arm around the friend. MediaTakeOut said the photos made Rhodes look “suspect” as a homosexual.

Rhodes (pictured left), who played college ball at Louisville and has been in the NFL since 2005, addressed the photos in an interview with TMZ. He denied that he is gay.

“Photos have been circulating of my former assistant and I that have caused some rumors regarding my sexuality, and I wanted to address the situation,” Rhodes told TMZ.

“I am not gay. The shots were taken during a past vacation in a casual environment with my entire business team.

“I know a lot of people are recently talking about athletes struggling to come out to their fans right now, and I support them, as well as wish those individuals comfort.”

Rhodes’ denial only served to anger the ex-assistant, who claims he was also Rhodes’ boyfriend.

MediaTakeOut followed up their first story on Rhodes with more pictures of the two together, including one of Rhodes kissing the friend/assistant. MediaTakeOut posted that story on Monday, and then shared a video on Tuesday of the ex-assistant/alleged ex-boyfriend’s reality show.

The ex-assistant/ex-boyfriend, Russell “Hollywood” Simpson, then went on a media tour, likely to promote his reality show.

Simpson gave interviews to Bossip and Baller Alert in which he shared intimate photos of him and Rhodes and talked about their relationship.

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Following the Arizona Cardinals’ loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, it was confirmed that there was an on-field incident between Cardinals linebacker Darnell Dockett and safety Kerry Rhodes that will likely lead to disciplinary action. Head coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team was not going to discuss the matter publicly, but some of the dirty details emerged on Monday night.

A source with knowledge of what occurred reportedly told Pro Football Talk that Dockett spat in Rhodes’ face while the two were having a disagreement. With the Jets leading 7-6 late in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals were planning to allow New York to score to make it a 14-6 game and give themselves a chance to get the ball back, score a touchdown, convert a two-point conversion and send the game to overtime.

However, Dockett reportedly had no interest in allowing the Jets to score. This led to Rhodes trying to convince him buy in, which in turn led to the alleged loogie.

We have heard of players spitting in opponents faces during games before, but this is a first for it happening among teammates. Based on some of the stuff Rex Ryan has said about Rhodes in the past, you can understand how someone might get frustrated with him. But in this situation it sounds like Dockett was the one being difficult. If the story is true the team should suspend him.

When Rex Ryan took over as head coach of the New York Jets, one of his first moves was to bring over some of his trusted players from Baltimore. He encouraged the team to sign linebacker Bart Scott and safety Jim Leonhard, and the moves paid off for the Jets.

While Rex brought in his own guys, he also had to figure out the role of some of the organization’s incumbents. One such player was safety Kerry Rhodes who generally has good numbers but ended up in Ryan’s doghouse. Ryan wasn’t fond of Rhodes’ playing style and even benched him during the ’09 season.

Rhodes signed a free agent deal with Arizona and recorded 90 tackles, four interceptions, and two fumbles returned for touchdowns last season. Though he’s been out of mind and out of sight for most Jets fans, Ryan has brought back some of those feelings when a quote from his new book Play Like You Mean it emerged.

According to Rich Cimini, Ryan said about Rhodes “He was a selfish-ass guy. He wouldn’t work and he was a Hollywood type.”

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Chad Ochocinco was establishing himself as a fine NFL reporter recently, using Twitter as his outlet. Maybe something caught up to him because he’s taken a hiatus from tweeting lately. Perhaps the same fate awaits Jets safety, Kerry Rhodes, who used his twitter account to tease his followers about some news. Here’s what he had to say: “jet fans expect a big announcement coming soon lol!” Then some fan wrote to him suggesting the Jets were working on a trade with Denver (involving Kellen Clemens) and that’s why they acquired Kevin O’Connell. Rhodes’ response back certainly was telling: “u may be right!!! (hint hint).” Even Rhodes’ Jets teammate, Nick Mangold, was hanging on every tweet, asking Rhodes what the big news was.

The Jets have said they’re prepared to keep four quarterbacks but that doesn’t make much sense. They’ve also been rumored to have interest in trading for Brandon Marshall for almost a week, so it wouldn’t be a big surprise if this went down. The addition of Marshall sure would give the Jets a nice weapon on offense but the question is at what cost on the defensive side of the ball? Plus, Mark Sanchez has looked good in the preseason but there’s hardly been a rookie quarterback who’s been successful in the league, up until last year. I don’t think just adding Marshall would be enough this year. As for Denver, if this were to go down, they will have successfully gotten rid of their top two offensive players in one offseason. Not bad.

(via Ballhype)