San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith played on Sunday following an arrest on suspicion of DUI early Friday morning, but will not suit up for San Fran's Thursday Night Football clash with the St. Louis Rams.
Smith has recognized he has a problem and will be out indefinitely as he attempts to solve his personal issues.
"First off, I wanted to apologize to the team, the organization, my family and everybody I let down," he said. "I also wanted to let it be known that this is a problem and it's something that I will get fixed, and that I'll do everything in my power to make sure that this never happens again. I also wanted to let everybody know that once again I'm sorry."
The 49ers were criticized for allowing Smith to participate in the 49ers game Sunday afternoon against the Indianapolis Colts, a 27-7 drubbing that dropped San Francisco to 1-2. CEO Jed York defended the decision to allow Smith to play.
"Our opinion is if you're sitting someone down and paying them to sit down when they're going to seek treatment in the future, we didn't feel like that was an appropriate punishment," he said. "We're not trying to circumvent what the NFL will do. This is about making sure that Aldon has the opportunity to work on something, to get better, and he knows that he has our support and hopefully he has everybody's support in something that is going to be very difficult."
Smith has been involved in a slew of off-field incidents that have culminated in his admittance of a problem. Smith and former teammate Delanie Walker were named in a lawsuit by a man alleging he sustained serious injuries after being shot during a party at Smith's house.
The man claims an intoxicated Smith and Walker fired gunshots into the air in an attempt to signal the party was over, injuring him severely.
The 23-year-old Smith registered 19.5 sacks last season as well as 65 tackles.
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