Suspended 49ers radio analyst Tim Ryan has Richard Sherman in his corner, in a way, when it comes to Ryan's comments this week about Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Sherman told reporters Thursday that Ryan made a good observation about Jackson's dark skin camoflauging the ball and making it more difficult for the 49ers to defend him.
“I understand how it can be taken under a certain context and be offensive to some, but if you’re saying, this is a brown ball, (the Ravens are) wearing dark colors, and he has a brown arm, honestly, sometimes we were having trouble seeing it on film," Sherman said (video below per Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News).
#49ers Richard Sherman said radio analyst Tim Ryan apologized to individuals at team hotel for his “dark skin” comment about Lamar Jackson, said Ryan made “valid” points but could have chosen better words pic.twitter.com/O8dWOztQiC
— 𝙲𝚊𝚖 𝙸𝚗𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@CamInman) December 5, 2019
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The Niners suspended Ryan one game after reports of his comments to a San Francisco radio talk show were published. Sherman said he wasn't "as outraged as everybody else" after learning what Ryan said.
"It 100 percent is an issue," Sherman said of not being able to pick up the ball. "That’s why (what Ryan said) wasn’t that offensive, because what he was saying was a great point. . . . He could have used better words, but it was made bigger than it really was."
Sherman said that he doesn't believe any other 49ers players have "taken it offensively," either.
Ryan, who played in the NFL from 1990-93 as a defensive lineman and worked for more than a decade as a Fox television analyst before joining the 49ers' broadcast team in 2014 (per the San Francisco Chronicle), released a statement Wednesday in which he apologized to Jackson "and anyone else I offended." The 49ers apologized separately to the Ravens.
