Shannon Sharpe slammed the Detroit Lions for not shielding Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf from some alleged comments made by a fan. Metcalf made headlines this week after he seemingly took a swing at a fan, whom he has since accused of using vulgar language at him. He claimed that the Lions fan, who has since been identified as Ryan Kennedy, used racist slurs towards him and his mother. The latter, however, has argued that he simply called the receiver by his full name. Former NFL players Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco weighed in on the incident during the latest episode of their podcast, and the former slammed the Lions for not defending Metcalf appropriately. "This is their fan, this is one of their ticket holders, why wouldn't they do that? This could have been removed," he said. "When the fan had an altercation with (Matt) LeFleur last year, they took his tickets immediately!" Shannon Sharpe sides with Metcalf, says he did everything by the book before his suspension: Read more As of this writing, Metcalf has been suspended for two games due to the incident. Reports have suggested that he interacted with the same fan last season, when the Lions hosted him while he played for the Seattle Seahawks. At the time, the sportsman reportedly alerted security about Kennedy. According to Shannon Sharpe, Metcalf was simply following protocol. "All I'm saying is DK did everything he's supposed to do. He reported the incident to his security, security took it to the Detroit Lions," Sharpe said. "The NFL's gonna want to know why the Lions didn't do anything, I can promise you that. The NFL's gonna want to know, 'Okay, if you had this information, and it was corroborated that he said this, why was he still allowed to come into this building?'" He also slammed Kennedy's claims that he called Metcalf by his “government name," DeKaylin Zacharius Metcalf. Speaking with the Detroit Press, he said: "He doesn't like his government name. I called him that, and then he grabbed me and ripped my shirt. I'm a little shocked. Like everyone's talking to me. I'm a little rattled, but I just want the Lions to win, baby." According to Shannon Sharpe, however, Kennedy may have been bluffing: “I see that as a strong overreaction for someone to call you by your government name… I didn’t put a whole lot of credence into that,” the Broncos legend argued. As of this writing, the exact incident between Metcalf and Kennedy remains unclear.