Why Is Mike Florio So Afraid To Upset Lamar Jackson? Apology For Bad Pick Is Unnecessary | Bobby Burack

Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio spent his morning apologizing to the Baltimore Ravens, particularly Lamar Jackson, for picking the San Francisco 49ers to win on Monday.

He first apologized after the Ravens' win, when Jackson complained that Florio "disrespected" him:

Jackson referenced a video last week in which Florio predicted that the 49ers would "kick the sh** out of the Ravens."

That didn't happen.

Instead, Baltimore beat San Francisco, 33-19. And even that score doesn't reflect just how thoroughly the Ravens dominated the matchup.

Yet the story isn't Florio picking the wrong outcome. Most analysts picked the 49ers to win. Vegas favored San Francisco by 5.5.

The story is that Florio felt the need to apologize.

He says he agrees with Jackson that his phrasing -- "the kick the sh** out of" part -- was "disrespectful."

It wasn't.

It was funny, as sports talk should be.

Florio didn't attack any specific players on the team. He didn't question their effort. He made a football pick on a football picks podcast.

And his prediction wasn't all that out of left field. He made the case that no team could compete with the 49ers because they "kick the sh** out of" every other contender. Which, before Monday, was the case. See the outcomes of the 49ers wins over the Eagles and Cowboys.

Was it disrespectful when most analysts predicted the Patriots to blow out the Giants in Super Bowl XLII? Or when Stephen A. Smith predicted the Eagles would blow out the Cowboys a few weeks ago? Or when Skip Bayless dismisses every team that plays the Cowboys?

Of course, not.

They are predicting football games. They are not reporting on who bombed a hospital in Gaza.

So, you have to wonder why Florio did apologize. Say what you will about him, he isn't one to back down from a social media fight. He doesn't say sorry for doing his job: making football picks.

Thus, it would appear Florio didn't apologize for his phrasing or for upsetting a football player. Rather, it appears he apologized for which football player his phrasing upset.

We've previously covered the sensitivity around Lamar Jackson. Jackson, albeit a great player, is the most coddled player in the NFL. Maybe in professional sports.

Jackson has his own personal advocate on the ESPN NFL pregame show in Robert Griffin III. Not so coincidentally, Griffin called out Florio after the game.

"This didn’t age well @ProFootballTalk Your apology needs to be as loud as the disrespect was," Griffin posted on X.

ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth recently appeared on the network to say that other analysts should be "careful" when criticizing Jackson.

Foxworth didn't explain why Jackson deserved preferential treatment but suggested it was because of race.

And therein lies why there is so much fear of offending Jackson.

Any time Jackson is criticized by a prominent voice, one of his minions in the media pulls out the race card -- be it RGIII, Foxworth, Marcus Spears, Ryan Clark, Stephen A. Smith, or Shannon Sharpe.

It happened throughout his contract negotiations in the offseason. Here's former NFL player Dez Bryant:

"What I dislike heavy about the NFL whenever guys like Lamar Jackson and other black athletes perform past their contracts it’s always a problem whenever it times to be paid…don’t draft the player if the character is such a concern… NFL needs to understand is an investment on both sides and the player usually lose at the end… Pay Lamar what he deserves and stopped the madness."

Even FS1 host Nick Wright, no stranger to the race card, admitted that people in the media are hesitant to criticize at the risk of someone calling them racist:

The last thing Florio wants is to be called a racist.

In fact, he has spent the past decade trying to build enough equity so that no one can call him a racist with his cartoonish coverage of Colin Kaepernick.

If your QB has been injured over the past seven years, you can rest assured Florio has pressured the team to sign Kaepernick.

Florio's fear of getting caught up in racist crosshairs has been evident this year.

He and his site cover literally every football story that people talk about, on the field or off. He spent a week covering the crazy Chargers lady whom he thought was a paid actor.

Yet Pro Football Talk posted not one story on Deadspin lying about a Chiefs fan wearing blackface at an NFL game last month.

Florio didn't bother writing about the accusation, the truth, the threat of a lawsuit, or that the NFL and Chiefs refused to stand up for an innocent nine-year-old fan falsely accused of racism.

Can you imagine what it would have done for the child, whose parents say is horrified over the accusations, if the leading NFL blogger, which Florio is, had simply printed the truth?

Unfortunately, Florio didn't find the story worth his time.

Nor did he publish a single tweet or article about former Steelers' running back Rashard Mendenhall saying white people do not belong in football and urging the league to adopt segregation.

Mike Florio frequently covers the intersection of race and football. Except when it might result in someone calling him a racist.

So, it'd hardly surprise anyone if Florio calculated that defending himself against Jackson wasn't worth the trouble -- especially when you consider that Jackson, one of the most insecure players in the NFL, clearly wanted to make Florio a story after Monday night.

OutKick asked Mike Florio for comment on this article and if he is afraid to upset Lamar Jackson given the reaction.

He did not provide a comment and pointed us to his coverage of the topic on his website.

And we encourage you to read what he says regarding the topic. And see if he ends up apologizing to Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, and any other QBs he's "disrespected."

Lamar Jackson is rightfully the MVP frontrunner. He is a top-five QB in the NFL. But he's not immune to criticism or to be picked against.

He is a $260 million player. He needs to grow up and better handle what comes with the spotlight.

Mike Florio didn't owe Jackson an apology for doing his job and having fun with his pick. Yet he bent the knee and begged for forgiveness, anyway.