ESPN Commentator Booger McFarland Catches Heat for Old Lamar Jackson Tweet

Monday night, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made his Monday Night Football debut. He did so in head-turning fashion while throwing for five touchdowns and rushing for 95 yards. During this game, ESPN commentator Booger McFarland mentioned that many analysts had told Jackson to switch to wide receiver instead of playing quarterback. However, fans were quick to remind him that he once expressed the same opinion.

Following this comment during the game, Twitter users went back into McFarland’s timeline and found an old tweet from 2017 in which he said that Jackson needs to switch positions in order to find success. “It wont happen but if Louisville were really thinking about Lamar Jackson’s future they would move him to wr, thats where he will play in NFL,” McFarland wrote.

Unsurprisingly, this tweet resurfacing on Monday night led many fans to send messages to Old Takes Exposed in order to publicly shame McFarland. Others simply said that McFarland’s statement didn’t age well.

This wasn’t the only comment that the ESPN commentator made about Jackson and his ability as a quarterback in the NFL. In December 2018, he also said that the then-rookie would not last in the NFL as a running QB. He also called for football fans to name one player that found lasting success while mixing runs and throws. They responded by citing multiple quarterbacks, including Michael Vick (15 years), Donovan McNabb (13 years), and Randall Cunningham (16 years).

Monday night, McFarland did reveal that he actually reached out to Jackson and apologized for some of his previous comments. Although that did not prevent the criticism from being sent his way after each big play by the Ravens QB.

“Actually I communicated that directly to Lamar weeks ago, but that was between me & him,” McFarland wrote in response to his critics. “New information allows you to have a new opinion and the improvement he made from the Charger game in the playoffs till now has been remarkable and he deserves to be MVP.”

Since making these previous statements on Twitter, McFarland has watched Jackson become the favorite to win league MVP in 2019. He is leading the 9-2 Baltimore Ravens to the playoffs and has 24 passing touchdowns, only five interceptions, and another six scores as a runner. He also defeated Tom Brady, Deshaun Watson, and Russell Wilson in head-to-head matchups.

Jackson also has two separate games in which he achieved a perfect passer rating (158.3), as well as two games with five passing touchdowns. He is also on pace to break Michael Vick’s record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a single season (1,039 yards in 2006).

While McFarland is certainly not the only analyst to say that Jackson should have switched to wide receiver upon entering the NFL, he still received considerable criticism given that he was reportedly calling out others for having the same opinion on Monday night.

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