Cris Carter Told NFL Rookies To Have A ‘Fall Guy’ For Crimes
Cris Carter, along with Warren Sapp, told first year players at the 2014 NFL Rookie Symposium to have a “fall guy” on hand, in the event they were involved in a potential crime. For a league that is still attempting to repair its image from recent situations involving Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Josh Gordon, and others, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell cannot be happy with the latest fiasco.
The incident started when Chris Borland, a recently retired San Francisco 49ers linebacker, told ESPN various inside information about how the NFL runs behind closed doors. In the interview, Borland said that he was told by a former player to have a fall guy on hand in case he got mixed up in any illegal activity. He was advised the fall guy would go to jail and take all of the blame. In a weak attempt to justify it, the unnamed former player said they “will bail him out” when referring to the fall guy.
While Borland did not name the former player, we now have confirmation that it was former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver, Cris Carter, according to a video posted to Deadspin. In the video, Sapp and the rest of the crowd chuckle after Carter advises having a “fall guy in the crew” in case any trouble arises. Carter goes on to pull Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on stage to use as an example. He went on to explain why a fall guy is necessary for an NFL player.
“This right here is Teddy Bridgewater, Inc. That’s him. Now, every dime that comes into Teddy, alright, is going to be earned by him and his body. Now, I let my homeboys know, if y’all want to keep rolling like this, then I need to know who gonna be the fall guy, who gonna be driving. Because y’all not all going to do the right stuff. So I got to teach y’all how to get around all of this stuff too. If you gonna have a crew, one of those fools got to know, he’s going to jail.”
Carter goes on to explain how important it is to protect a player’s image. He tells the group he knows they are going to be involved in questionable activities, and it is essential their brands are not tarnished. Surprisingly, the NFL knew about this video and clearly did not care until now. According to ProFootballTalk, the NFL has responded to the controversy.
“The comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program,” said the NFL statement.
While it is public knowledge that NFL locker rooms are not G-rated, it is probably not in the NFL’s best interest to have their representatives telling young players to have a “fall guy” for criminal activity. Unfortunately for Cris Carter, he did not have a fall guy on hand for the current outcry about his comments.
[Image via Stacy Revere/Getty Images]
