Lorenzo Alexander Will Give Josh Allen 'Some Grace' on Racist Tweets

Buffalo Bills draft pick Josh Allen will have to answer to his new team for his past racist tweets, but linebacker Lorenzo Alexander will give the quarterback a chance when he enters the locker room.

"What I'm gonna do is extend some grace and wait to get to know the kid and see how he develops," Alexander said on the Bills radio program Friday, per Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. "And that's how you got to approach it."

The No. 7 overall draft pick had tweets from 2012 and 2013 resurface Wednesday, featuring the N-word and other offensive language, per Ryan Young of Yahoo Sports.

Allen apologized for his past words, explaining that he has changed since he was in high school.

"I am who I am today and I wasn't that guy six years ago when I was 15 years old," he said Thursday, per Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today. "Obviously I've got to man up and take it on the chin, and what happened was not acceptable, and it's never going to happen again."

However, it's clear this issue isn't completely behind him.

Former Bills star Bruce Smith called the quarterback's tweets "ignorant behavior," per Josh Peter of USA Today.

Alexander, who is a team captain and an 11-year NFL veteran, said he would encourage teammates to give him a chance to explain himself but Allen is "gonna have to have a good answer." Still, he feels there will be chances for forgiveness.

"I've listened to a couple of interviews, and I think it's gonna come from the heart, and he'll be fine," the linebacker explained. "But he's gonna maybe have to work a little bit harder from certain people in the locker room, but I don't think it's an issue, because that's who he was and not who he is."

Considering Allen was likely picked to be the team's franchise quarterback, it will be important for him for the rest of his teammates to have his back.