A USA Today Sports columnist attacked top NFL prospect Nick Bosa for deleting his conservative social media posts. Then, in the same headline, let it be known that she considers conservatism to be a bad thing. Thus, proving why Bosa felt the need to delete them.

Bosa admits that he felt compelled to put an end to his pro-Trump tweets for fear that teams like the San Francisco 49ers would not draft him. Or, possibly to avoid criticism from San Francisco-based media after getting drafted by the 9ers. So, he went through his social media accounts and deleted entries with political themes.

“I had to,” Bosa said several weeks ago. “There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco.”

Bosa feared — correctly as it now appears — feared that the liberal media would attack him for his mainstream conservative ideals. Now, as if on cue, a left-wing USA Today Sports columnist is doing just what Bosa feared: Attacking him for his conservative ideals.

Nancy Armour, who went to the mat to support the extreme, anti-American leftism of former NFL player Colin Kaepernick and his right to free speech, is now attacking Bosa for engaging in his own right to speak.

“Nick Bosa’s lack of conviction is far more bothersome than his political leanings,” Armour wrote on April 23.

“Bosa is unabashedly conservative in his views,” Armour continues disapprovingly. “He has praised President Donald Trump and retweeted posts celebrating the administration’s achievements. He has criticized Colin Kaepernick, calling him a ‘clown.'”

Armour explained that Bosa deleted his posts to which she adds, “And therein lies the problem.”

The columnist goes on to slam Bosa as a coward for not leaving his “disagreeable” opinions live for all to see saying, “if you support someone or something strongly enough to post about it on multiple occasions, then you’d better be ready to own it.”

Yet, not only does Armour fail to see that deleting past comments is also exercising speech. And that Bosa has a right to post as well as delete past posts. She also seems blissfully unaware of her own complicity in creating the kind of environment that would compel Bosa to fear a media backlash to his political opinions.

By saying in her headline that Bosa’s decision to delete his conservative posts was “worse than his conservative views.” Armour makes it known that she considers conservatism, Bosa’s political ideology of choice, to be a bad thing. Nor, is she alone in that belief among her peers in the sports media. Avoiding the inevitable flurry of attacks from anti-conservative liberal writers in the sports media — like Nancy Armour — is what compelled Bosa to delete his tweets.

For example, not only was Armour unrelenting in her support of Colin Kaepernick, but she was also equally vociferous in taking Tom Brady to task for his support of President Trump. In a column written just before the Super Bowl two years ago, Armour wrote:

Tom Brady no longer gets a pass on his friendship with Donald Trump.

Not after this weekend, when the country boiled over in rage and indignation at Trump’s decision to turn America’s back on refugees. Not after this season, when Colin Kaepernick was pilloried from coast to coast for trying to draw attention to the shortcomings of our country.

Sound fair and balanced to you? I mean, with an army of sportswriters who agree with that, who wouldn’t want to openly talk about their support for President Trump?

Armour also ends her column with a common liberal claim that is really a false choice.

“Our personal beliefs are just that, personal, and Bosa is entitled to his. But as a star athlete, he also has a platform,” Armour concludes. “And with it comes a responsibility to be both authentic and informed, as well as an obligation to own his actions, decisions and, yes, his opinions.”

No, not really. As a professional athlete the only “responsibility” Nick Bosa or any other athlete has is to play to the best of his ability. He has no “responsibility” to “use a platform” for anything but to show excellence at his sport. Now, he may choose to use his “platform” for some cause or another, but that is elective, not a “responsibility.

Like all leftists, Armour makes the mistake to imagine that all aspects of life should be used to push political positions, preferably left-wing ones.

And therein lies the problem.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.