The 49ers have suspended Tim Ryan, their radio color analyst, over comments he made on a Bay Area sports talk radio show Monday in which he said Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is black, is exceptional at faking handoffs because of his “dark skin color with a dark football.”
The comments came in the first couple of minutes of Ryan’s weekly segment with KNBR’s “Murph and Mac” morning radio show as the hosts asked the San Jose native about Jackson’s performance in Sunday’s 20-17 victory over the 49ers. Jackson, a front-runner to be named NFL MVP, rushed and passed for more than 100 yards in a game between two of the league’s top teams.
Jackson gained most of his yards running a zone-read type offense, in which he frequently fakes a handoff to a running back before keeping the ball to run himself.
“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.”
More: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/49ers-suspend-broadcaster-Tim-Ryan-for-saying-14882642.php