SANTA CLARA (KRON) – The San Francisco 49ers color commentator Tim Ryan has been suspended for one game after making comments about Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Ryan joined KNBR’s “Murph and Mac” show and analyzed why the quarterback is so talented.
The commentator suggested Jackson was good at disguising the ball and running fake hand-offs in part because of his dark skin.
“With his dark skin tone, with a dark football, with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing. 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 San Francisco 49ers officials released a statement explaining the organization is not pleased in Ryan’s comments:
“We are disappointed in Tim Ryan’s comments earlier this week, and have suspended him for the upcoming game. We hold Tim to a high standard as a representative of our organization and he must be more thoughtful with his words. 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 has since released an apology statement:
“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.”
The San Francisco 49ers went on to say, “We have reached out to the Baltimore Ravens organization to extend our apologies and assure them the matter is not being taken lightly.”