Shannon Sharpe isn’t interested in hearing Ray Lewis act as a mouthpiece for the Baltimore Ravens.
Steve Bisciotti said Sunday at a fan forum the team still was weighing its options with regard to signing free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and the Baltimore Ravens owner mentioned he involved Lewis and that it’d ultimately be a football decision. But when the former Ravens linebacker appeared on FOX Sports 1’s “Undisputed” on Monday, co-host Shannon Sharpe took him to task on the issue.
Lewis agreed with Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality, disagreed with his kneeling during the national anthem and said the Ravens need to make the best decision for the team while starting quarterback Joe Flacco nurses a back injury. But when Lewis brought up Baltimore’s high murder rate, Sharpe got fired up, telling Lewis that the big difference is that those people go to jail, while police don’t, like in Freddie Gray’s case.
And Lewis’ next comment had Sharpe fuming.
“That ain’t Steve Bisciotti’s fight what happened to Freddie Gray,” Lewis said. “That ain’t no owner’s fight. If it is, then all of our owners should get together and go in these urban neighborhoods and clean it up.”
Sharpe fired back, saying owners should speak up as American citizens and they ultimately don’t because they can’t relate.
“They don’t care because it’s an issue they’re never going to have to face,” Sharpe said. “It’s people like you and I that’s been there and know people that’s faced these issues. You talking about Steve Bisciotti is never going to have to worry about the police beating him or a family member down. Jerry Jones, Mr. (Robert) Kraft, they’re never going to have to worry about that.”
Lewis wound up dancing around the issue, but Skip Bayless actually got in the final blow, saying if it is a football decision, he doesn’t see why Bisciotti would mention working out Robert Griffin III, as Kaepernick clearly is the better QB of the two.
We have a feeling Lewis might come more prepared next time if he ever appears on “Undisputed” again.
