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Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Tight end Martellus Bennett claims that the Green Bay Packers knew about his injury, which the team said he failed to disclose. Bennett, who now plays for the New England Patriots, posted a series of messages Friday on his Instagram account.
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"This [expletive] crazy bruhhhh...wow," Bennett wrote in his Instagram story.
"The Packers examined my shoulder on my visit March 10 and cleared it," Bennett wrote. "They even gave me an x-ray as well. It got worse during the season, specifically against the Cowboys so I asked to have it checked out and we checked it. After a few days of contemplating to play with it or get surgery, I chose surgery. Now here we are ..."
On Friday, ESPN and NFL Network reported that Bennett was playing this season with a torn rotator cuff.
Bennett, 30, joined the Packers this offseason on a three-year, $21 million contract. He was cut on Wednesday and claimed by the Patriots on Thursday.
The Packers cut Bennett with a "failure to disclose a physical condition" designation. He passed his physical Friday with the Patriots.
"They tried to [expletive] me over," Bennett wrote on his Instagram story. "Dr. McKenzie trying to cover his own [expletive]. After trying to persuade me to play thru a major injury and choosing to get surgery."
"They have access to all my medical records. My shoulder wasn't where it is now at the beginning of the season. I [expletive] it up playing for the @Packers."
"Dr. McKenzie didn't make [me] feel safe and was pushing to play, which I thought was weird. Not that he was trying to get me to play thru it but the way he was saying things. I didn't trust him. So I got 3 other opinions from doctors who all said I need to get it fixed. So I decided to do that. And they decided to waive me the some bull [expletive] excuse. Failure [to] disclose."
Advertisement"Every week we do a body evaluation sheet in the weight room and pretty much every week I circled my shoulder. I just kept playing but it got worse.
"During the bye week I got off anti inflammatories to clean my system and could really feel the pain. So I asked to examine it first day back in. And that's when we found out it was really [expletive] up."
"They knew."
"They panicked. Thinking that I was trying to go on IR and be on their books next year. When I mentioned that I would possible retire. So they tried to [expletive] me before they thought I would [expletive] them. This was all about money."
"All about money. I get it. But don't lie homie. You knew wtf was up."
"I had intentions of playing all 8 games as I mentioned in the post during the bye week, but found out it was worse than I felt after getting it checked out."
"Now I'm like [expletive] it."
"I chose my health over the 'team'. They chose money over me."
Last week, Bennett posted that he was "pretty sure" he was going to retire this offseason. He has 233 yards and 24 catches this season in seven starts. The 6 foot 7, 248 pound pass catcher had a career-high seven touchdowns last season for the Patriots.
"I don't have the answers to your questions outside of the fact that it was an injury situation and I enjoyed working with him in his time here," Packers coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Thursday, according to Packers.com.
"You can't deny the facts of the timeline, but to tie all that together, you're asking me to get inside somebody else's feelings and conversations, more on a personal level. Everything leading up to that, I can't really comment on it; we went down injury path, and here we are today. It would be all speculation."
Bennett is questionable for the Patriots' game Sunday against the Denver Broncos.
