San Francisco 49ers outspoken cornerback Richard Sherman offered support for the team’s suspended radio analyst Tim Ryan on Thursday.
During a radio interview earlier in the week, Ryan said Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s dark skin helps him disguise the football when running fake handoff plays. The comments were deemed insensitive and led to a one game suspension for Ryan, but according to Sherman, the analysis wasn’t cause for outrage.
“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. “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 ‘does he have the ball on this play? And then you look up and Ingram is running it. It was technically a valid point. But you can always phrase things better”
The 49ers lost their second game of the season to Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens last week, as the electrifying quarterback ran for over 100 yards.
“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 during a segment on the 49ers flagship radio station, 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 quickly alerted the Baltimore Ravens of Ryan’s comments, extended an apology and confirmed they would handle the matter appropriately. Ryan was suspended by the 49ers for their upcoming game in New Orleans on Sunday.
Ryan later issued an apology 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”
But Sherman, one of the 49ers defensive leaders continued to support Ryan, believing his analysis was correct.
“It was 100% an issue,” Sherman added. “It’s the way (Ryan) presented it. That’s why it wasn’t offensive because what he was saying was a great point. It has been that way since any zone-read scheme. The mesh point is a tough point of contention. So you add a dark jersey to it and it’s going to make it even harder. But obviously you can always phrase it better.”
Ryan also received support from 49ers defensive end Dee Ford who told the radio analyst, “I got your back.”
The 49ers analyst remains suspended for Sunday’s broadcast against the Saints, but based on the reaction from Sherman and Ford, it seems like the players wouldn’t have reprimanded him at all.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.