Booger McFarland isn’t backing down.
After catching heat for his rant on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” about the Dwayne Haskins situation and how it related to young African-American players in the NFL, the former player and current ESPN analyst didn’t take a step back.
“My message was to all players which I said but specifically to the part of the NFL that’s makes up almost 70% the AA players,” he tweeted, accompanied by the video of his take. “And of course I’m not speaking to ALL but in my 20+ years around the NFL I’ve seen to many cases. I stand by what I said whether u agree or disagree.”
In a roundtable discussion, McFarland said Haskins’ issues — the former first-round draft pick was cut on Monday by the Washington Football Team due to poor performance and violating COVID-19 protocol with a maskless stripper party — are symbolic of other young black players in the league who focus more on growing their brand and image then being a better player and helping their team.
“Often times young players, especially — I’m gonna go ahead — especially young African-American players, because they make up 70 percent of this league — they come into this league and ask themselves the wrong thing,” McFarland said. “They come into the league saying not ‘how can I be a better player?’ They don’t say ‘how can I be a better teammate?’ They don’t say ‘how can I be a better person; how can get my organization over the hump?’
“Here’s what they come in saying. They come in saying ‘how can I build my brand better? How can I build my social media following better? How can I work out on Instagram and show everybody that I’m ready to go, but when I get to the game, I don’t perform?”
His take, generalizing one player into a large group, was harshly criticized. But the next day instead of walking back his comments, McFarland decided to double down.
nypost.com
