Monday, August 24, 2015

Cris Carter apologizes for 'fall guy' comments to NFL rookies

Former NFL star Cris Carter has apologized for comments he made a year ago at the 2014 Rookie Symposium, where he advised players to designate a "fall guy" in the event they get in trouble with the law. 

"Just in case y'all not going to decide to do the right thing, if y'all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew," Carter advised a room full of young NFL players. 
Carter's comments resurfaced in an ESPN profile of former 49ers star Chris Borland this weekend.  Borland, a rookie who retired from football due to concussion concerns, recalled hearing the Hall of Famer offering up the questionable advice during the lecture with co-speaker Warren Sapp.



Borland did not specifically name Carter in the ESPN interview, but the video, initially uploaded by the NFL and since taken down, showed Carter in his 2014 presentation. It was quickly located on the Internet and spread like wildfire.

Carter apologized for the comments on Sunday evening in a series of Tweets:  
The NFL and ESPN, for which Carter is an analyst, quickly distanced themselves from the outspoken former player who beat his own drug and alcohol problems in the past.

"We completely disagree with Cris’s remarks and we have made that extremely clear to him, "ESPN said in a statement. "Those views were entirely his own and do not reflect our company’s point of view in any way."

The NFL called his comments "unfortunate and inappropriate." In a statement, the league said:

This was an unfortunate and inappropriate comment made by Cris Carter during the 2014 NFC Rookie Symposium. The comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program. The league’s player engagement staff immediately expressed concern about the comment to Cris. The comment was not repeated in the 2014 AFC session or this year’s symposium. 

Sounds like Carter is the one who needs a fall guy.

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