When commenting on ESPN about the Washington Football Team’s Monday decision to release quarterback Dwayne Haskins, former NFL defensive tackle Anthony “Booger” McFarland called on young players — specifically young African-American players—to work harder and treat playing football as a “serious business.”
Some people are taking issue with the fact that McFarland only singled out Black players during the Monday Night Countdown segment:
A bunch of people took issue with what he said, specifically Torrey Smith. The former NFL WR took to Twitter and fired back at McFarland:
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McFarland argued that he only mentioned African-American players specifically because they make up 70 percent of the NFL.
“They come into the league saying not, ‘How can I be a better player?’ They don’t say, ‘How can I be a better teammate?’ They don’t say, ‘How can I be a better person? How can I get my organization over the hump?'” McFarland said. “Here’s what they come in saying: They come in saying, ‘How can I build my brand better? How can I build my social media following better? How can I work out on Instagram and show everybody that I’m ready to go? But when I get to the game, I don’t perform.'”
Booger continued, saying, “It bothers me, because a lot of it is the young African-American players. They come in, and they don’t take this like a business. It is still a game to them. This ain’t football, man. This is a billion-dollar business. It’s billions of dollars.”
He closed his monologue by telling NFL players to really consider what’s at stake:
“My message to Dwayne Haskins—not just him, but the rest of the young players in the NFL—man, this is a game, but take it as a business. There are billions—with a ‘b’—of dollars at stake, and until you start approaching this game that way, until you start coming to work coming to work, saying, ‘Y’know what? What can I do to get better today? What can I do to make sure my teammates are better today? How can I put my organization first instead of my damn Instagram?’ Take it as a serious business, but too many times, it’s a game. ‘We wanna TikTok. We wanna do all these different things.’ Man, do you know how much money is at stake?” McFarland said.
