Geno Smith Denies Rumor That he was Escorted by Cops off LAX Plane

Updates from Thursday, Jan. 23

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com has the latest on Geno Smith's altercation at LAX:

Kimberley Martin of Newsday passed along a statement from Smith:

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New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith is denying rumors that he was escorted off of an airplane by police at LAX on Friday, Jan. 17 following a reputed verbal altercation with airline ticket agents.

Deadspin's Timothy Burke initially reported the rumor after several witnesses at LAX took to social media. However, TMZ Sports caught up with Smith at the airport and the quarterback quickly shot down the rumor, claiming that he wasn't kicked off of his flight and that he was headed home. 

While a photo captured at LAX and acquired by Deadspin appears to show Smith talking with police, there's no telling what actually transpired:

According to Newsday's Kimberly A. Martin, an incident report can only be filed if someone was arrested as a result:

Martin reports that the Jets are not commenting on the situation at this time:

Martin also provides insight into what may have caused the incident:

Brian Costello of The New York Post provides a different version of the story;

The incident witnesses described on Twitter reportedly came about after airline officials put Smith and others on standby for their flight at LAX, per Deadspin's "tipster:"

"

We were waiting for our flight at LAX to Vegas and were put on standby on Virgin American just like Geno. We were told to get seat assignment at 2:40. Apparently Geno was not on board with that. My friend walked over to discuss seat assignment and Geno was saying to airline ticket agents, "[Expletive] that, this is [expletive]." "Why the [expletive] do I have to wait until 2:40." He would not let it go. He continued to curse and be loud for about 5 minutes. Police were called. They talked for a few minutes and then 3 officers escorted him out of the terminal.

"

Regardless of whether Smith did anything wrong or was actually escorted out by police, it's clear the first-year signal-caller could do without the negative publicity as he heads into a critical offseason. 

After all, Smith is coming off of a disappointing debut season with the Jets that saw him throw 21 interceptions and fumble eight times. The 23-year-old started all 16 regular-season games for New York, but was unable to lead Gang Green to the playoffs, going 8-8.

A standout in four seasons at West Virginia, Smith was selected with the 39th overall pick by the Jets in the 2013 NFL draft as the team's next franchise quarterback.

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