ESPN’s Booger McFarland Says Young Black NFL Players Focus on Branding, Not Football

On Monday, ESPN commentator Booger McFarland criticized young black players who seem more worried about growing their social media presence than improving their football play.

In a rant that began as a discussion about the Washington Football Team releasing Dwayne Haskins on Monday, McFarland went into a much broader commentary on the character of the young players in the NFL, specifically the young black players.

Haskins’ release was somewhat shocking considering that the 23-year-old was the team’s first-round draft pick only a year ago. Still, his performance on the field has not been stellar, and his lack of work ethic and social media concerns have been an ongoing issue.

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen this too many times,” McFarland said. “Oftentimes, young players, especially young African-American players — because they make up 70 percent of this league — they come into this league, and they ask themselves the wrong thing.”

McFarland then got to the meat of his critique, saying, “They come into this 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?’ 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.”

McFarland brought it back to Haskins, insisting that he is a perfect example to prove his point.

“Dwayne Haskins, unfortunately, is not the first case that I’ve seen like this,” McFarland exclaimed. “And it won’t be the last. And it bothers me because a lot of it is the young African-American player. They come in, and they don’t take this as a business. It is still a game to them. It’s a billion-dollar business.

“I saw a quarterback do it. I saw JaMarcus Russell do it. The No. 1 pick in the draft, they gave him $40 million, and he threw it down the damn drain because he didn’t take it seriously,” McFarland concluded.

As far as McFarland is concerned, Haskins was simply not performing well enough to stay in the “billion-dollar business” that is the NFL. And too many other players are just like Haskins.

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