Former Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Nick Bosa may be a top-five pick in this year’s NFL draft — and he is not going to let his social media account mess that up.
The 21-year-old recently revealed in an interview with ESPN that he deleted a number of his old social media postings. He said the kinds of tweets he deleted were supportive of President Trump and also critical of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and singer Beyoncé Knowles.
“I had to,” he told ESPN. “There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco.”
Bosa had a scheduled visit with the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday; they hold the second overall pick in this year’s draft. The team plays in Santa Clara, Calif., an overwhelmingly left-wing area; Hillary Clinton got 73.3 percent of the vote in Santa Clara County. Although his Twitter account may be bland these days, he made the right decision — and other young athletes should follow suit.
Bosa understands there’s no upside to being a sports figure and talking politics — on either side of the aisle. Although the majority of people really don’t care what celebrities have to say about politics, there are people who would be irritated with him no matter which side he took. This would hurt his image and make him needlessly divisive without actually advancing his political cause. After all, NBA superstar LeBron James campaigning with Hillary Clinton in Ohio did not make a dent in the 2016 presidential election’s outcome. Trump won the state by the largest margin anyone had since 1988.
Bosa must also realize old tweets have gotten players instilled in controversy years later, so he is saving himself from a future headache.
Last summer, a few MLB players like Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader, Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, and Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb received a barrage of hate for slurs they tweeted in high school and as college underclassmen. They were all forced to apologize for their words. While they avoided suspension, Major League Baseball mandated they undergo sensitivity training.
Although being a professional athlete is incredibly difficult, it should not be difficult for them to conduct themselves as professionals. Sports unite people from a wide array of backgrounds as teams strive toward a common goal. The players want to earn as much money as possible from their talent, and for this to be possible, the leagues must also be immensely profitable.
If there is one way to hurt a league’s bottom line, it is political divisiveness. Kaepernick and the NFL’s kneelers showed as much. When Kaepernick started kneeling for the national anthem in 2016 and more players followed suit, they contributed to NFL TV ratings declining by more than 17 percentage points in a two-year span; a 2017 JD Power Poll found that, 26% of that ratings drop could be directly attributed to the anthem-kneelers.
Pro sports leagues could use more players like Bosa. He understands his role is to tackle the running back and quarterback, not to blindside NFL fans with controversial political takes.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
