San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman heard what team broadcaster Tim Ryan said about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and told reporters how Ryan apologized to the team for his comments. But based on what Sherman had to say about Ryan’s “dark skin” comment, he’s not angry with Ryan at all. In fact, Sherman told reporters that Ryan made a “valid point” when he made the comment.
“I know Tim personally and listened to the dialogue and saw it written and honestly, I wasn’t as outraged as anybody else,” Sherman said Thursday per USA Today. “I understand how it could be taken under a certain context and be offensive to some. But if you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is a brown ball, they’re wearing dark colors and he has a brown arm,’ honestly, we were having trouble seeing the ball on the field. He’s making a play-fake and sometimes he swings his arm really fast, and you’re like ‘OK, does he have the ball on this play’ and then you look up and Ingram is running it. Technically, it was a valid point. But you can always phrase things better and not say ‘his black skin’ but I’ve had a relationship since I got here and he’s never been anything but a great guy and a professional and a guy who takes his job seriously.”
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This past Sunday, the 49ers took on the Ravens in Baltimore and lost 20-17. On Monday, Ryan went on KNBR’s Murph and Mac morning radio show and that’s where he made the comment after asking about Jackson’s performance.
“He’s really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing,” Ryan said. “I mean, you literally could not see when he was in and out of the mesh point, and if you’re a half step slow on him in terms of your vision, forget about it, he’s out of the gate.”
Because of the comments, the team suspended Ryan for one game. The former NFL player then issued an apology for his remark. “I regret my choice of words in trying to describe the conditions of the game. Lamar Jackson is an MVP-caliber player and I respect him greatly. I want to sincerely apologize to him and anyone else I offended,” he said.
