49ers Broadcaster Suspended After Lamar Jackson ‘Dark Skin’ Comments

Erin Nyren

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The San Francisco 49ers have suspended one of its radio color hosts, Tim Ryan, after he made a comment about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, saying that he is skilled at faking handoffs because of his “dark skin color with a dark football.”

Ryan made the comments early on on KNBR’s “Murph and Mac” morning radio show when the hosts asked Ryan about Jackson’s performance in Sunday’s game, which saw a 20-17 win for the Ravens. Jackson, a likely candidate for the NFL MVP, rushed and passed for more than 100 yards in one of the most competitive games of the season.

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“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 air. “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.”

49ers officals told the San Francisco Chronicle that Ryan is suspended for the upcoming game and that they are “disappointed” in his choice of words.

“We hold Tim to a high standard as a representative of our organization and he must be more thoughtful with his words,” 49ers officials told The Chronicle. “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.”

In a statement to The Chronicle, Ryan said, “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.”

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