The San Francisco 49ers announced radio analyst Tim Ryan would be suspended for their next game, because of insensitive remarks he made about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Ryan claimed Jackson’s dark skin helps the quarterback disguise the football when running fake handoff plays. The comments were made during an interview with the Murph and Mac show on the 49ers flagship radio station KNBR.
“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 on KNBR. “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.”
The 49ers made sure to get out in front of the issue, alerting the Ravens of Ryan’s comments, extending an apology and confirming they will handle the matter appropriately. Ryan was suspended by the 49ers for their game in New Orleans on Sunday, as first reported by The San Francisco Chronicle.
“We hold Tim to a high standard as a representative of our organization and he must be more thoughtful with his words,” the 49ers said in a statement. “Tim has expressed remorse in a public statement and has also done so with us privately. We know Tim as a man of high integrity and are confident he will grow and learn from this experience.”
Ryan also issued a statement through the team stating, “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”
Ryan is a former defensive lineman, playing four seasons with the Chicago Bears from 1990-93. The longtime analyst worked for FOX NFL TV for 12 seasons before joining the 49ers radio booth in 2014.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
