Cris Carter to rookies "Have a fall guy in your crew"

A recent ESPN feature on former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland described Borland as “appalled” by what he heard at the 2014 Rookie Symposium, when a former NFL player told the rookies that they should have a “fall guy” in their crew who would take the blame if they faced legal trouble. What ESPN failed to mention is that the former player who gave that advice was an ESPN employee, Cris Carter.

Although the ESPN feature says that Borland “declined to name” the player, the writers easily could have identified Carter as the source of the comments, because the video of Carter’s presentation at the Rookie Symposium is available at NFL.com.

The presentation went basically how Borland described it in the ESPN feature: Carter told rookies that they should have one friend who will be willing to take the blame if they ever get into trouble. Warren Sapp, onstage along with Carter, agreed.

“If you all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew,” Carter said. “If you all have a crew, one of those fools got to know, he’s the one going to jail. We’ll get him out.”

Sapp then repeated, “We’ll get him out.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/23/cris-carter-urged-nfl-rookies-to-have-a-fall-guy/

The NFL had the video of him speaking in 2014 at the rookie symposium on their website. Due to all the controversy it was just pulled. Definitely not a good look for the NFL. Cris Carter I expect it from. Complete and total disregard for the legal system.

Man Sapp and Carter have to be the two biggest idiots in the sports media. Every single thing I hear about them is just ridiculous.

BAZ said:

Man Sapp and Carter have to be the two biggest idiots in the sports media. Every single thing I hear about them is just ridiculous.

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The fact that he was invited back to talk to them again this year is ridiculous.

Its actually pretty good advice.

WPBCowboysFan said:

Its actually pretty good advice.

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How about telling them not to break the law instead of having someone else pay for their crimes? He's making a mockery of the justice system.

RingOfHonor88 said:

How about telling them not to break the law instead of having someone else pay for their crimes? He's making a mockery of the justice system.

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I didnt take it that way. It could be, but I imagine he was saying be smart and have a plan if something does happen. Ideally, stay out of trouble, but . . . ..

WPBCowboysFan said:

Its actually pretty good advice.

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I get where you're coming from, but it's only good advice for guys that want to do stupid stuff. These rookies sat there and listened to two HoFers basically tell them that what's important is not getting caught, as opposed to not being idiots in the first place. If I was an agent, I might tell my clients something similar to this in private if I thought they were likely to do stupid things, but no way would I stand in front of a room full of people w/ cameras and make that statement.

nablives said:

I get where you're coming from, but it's only good advice for guys that want to do stupid stuff. These rookies sat there and listened to two HoFers basically tell them that what's important is not getting caught, as opposed to not being idiots in the first place. If I was an agent, I might tell my clients something similar to this in private if I thought they were likely to do stupid things, but no way would I stand in front of a room full of people w/ cameras and make that statement.

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I think its good advice for any pro athlete to stay out of trouble but at the same time, if trouble happens, keep yourself out of the headlines. And that can be applied if you're an idiot who is 100% guilty or if you just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Idiots need fall guys.

WPBCowboysFan said:

Its actually pretty good advice.

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For a criminal.

Sarge said:

Idiots don't need fall guys.

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And how many in the NFL qualify for that?

Where was Warren Sapp's fall guy when he got caught and lost his job at NFLN? I think that is a problem they don't anticipate is that every situation is different and this is not great advice to keep doing illegal things when you are in your 40s.

RingOfHonor88 said:

How about telling them not to break the law instead of having someone else pay for their crimes? He's making a mockery of the justice system.

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yea, gotta agree with WPB, it's not a green light to cause trouble, but if trouble finds you, nice to have that guy in your crew.

and yes, you can avoid trouble by not going out and what ever, but that's not realistic.

It might be good advice but he shouldn't have said it. Criminals can figure things out on their own. I have no sympathy for them.

Good advice, but don't say it on tape.

Manwiththeplan said:

yea, gotta agree with WPB, it's not a green light to cause trouble, but if trouble finds you, nice to have that guy in your crew.

and yes, you can avoid trouble by not going out and what ever, but that's not realistic.

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I have a "Fall Guy", it's too bad he doesn't know it...
Maybe he does, I've treated the poor cat like a fall guy on more than one occasion (my mouth can get bigger than my biceps quite often).

It's his fault he keeps wanting to hang out.

Manwiththeplan said:

and yes, you can avoid trouble by not going out and what ever, but that's not realistic.

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They can go out and not run into trouble though. I think the idea that they can't go anywhere or do anything without trouble finding them is what's unrealistic. Most of them don't get into serious trouble at all, so it's obviously possible.

WPBCowboysFan said:

Its actually pretty good advice.

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yup, with over 400,000 laws on the books, a study recently found the average american commits 3 felonies per day.

in other words, everyone saying "dont break the law" after you...is committing felonies and breaking the law themselves lol

Manwiththeplan said:

yea, gotta agree with WPB, it's not a green light to cause trouble, but if trouble finds you, nice to have that guy in your crew.

and yes, you can avoid trouble by not going out and what ever, but that's not realistic.

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No, it's absolutely realistic to mature people. It's not only realistic to not put yourself in danger of losing your great paying job, it's also smart.

NIBGoldenchild said:

No, it's absolutely realistic to mature people.

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And a good percentage of professional athletes aren't mature people. They obviously don't all get in trouble, but far more of them make horrible financial decisions and put themselves in situations that can lead to trouble, but are lucky enough that it doesn't go down that way.