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Ex-Lion Lawrence Jackson rips 'arrogant' front office, Matthew Stafford

Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE / Reuters

Former Detroit Lions defensive end Lawrence Jackson unleashed a series of tweets Sunday criticizing the organization's front-office approach and quarterback Matthew Stafford's work ethic.

In an interview with Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press on Monday, Jackson explained that his tweets weren't motivated by bitterness, but came in response to people asking for his opinion on the expected departure of his friend and former teammate, Ndamukong Suh.

"I'm not going to sit there, if I have tweets coming in, and not respond to people," Jackson, who played for the Lions from 2010-12, said. "I have nothing to be bitter about. I had an opportunity to go back to Detroit, where it was considerably less competition than it was in Minnesota."

Jackson said his comments were based on his experience in Detroit and not on any  information he has about Suh. 

"I just know in my experience with the Lions, and from other people that have had dealings with them negotiation-wise that they're notoriously - I don't want to say disrespectful, but they do have the ability to put insulting offers out there," Jackson said.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand both expressed confidence in their contract negotiations with Suh, which Jackson said reeked of arrogance, along with their decision to table talks in July.

"As a player and understanding how it goes, and understanding the caliber of player that Ndamukong is, you don't table talks," Jackson said. "You keep them open until you figure something out.

"But I think the organization, from the front-office perspective, is very arrogant. And they've been known to do things like say we're tabling discussions and things in that ballpark because of how they feel about themselves."

Jackson also clarified that he doesn't hate Stafford, but wanted to address his issues with accuracy and consistency.

"The time period I was out there (in Detroit), I didn't see any consistent drills like that on a daily basis where he's working on the drops and evading the rush and different things like that," Jackson said.

"In my opinion, when you're making that kind of money and you're the face of the franchise, you put in work. And I don't think that I was the only one to question that. When you see a guy like Calvin (Johnson) and Ndamukong working hard on a daily basis, doing extra stuff, and you don't really see that from the quarterback, it's like how can you be mad with the results? Because it's not a high demand they're placing on him for improvement."

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