ESPN, NFL admonish Cris Carter for urging NFL rookies to have a 'fall guy'

ESPN and the NFL both condemned comments made by ESPN NFL analyst Cris Carter at the 2014 NFL Rookie Symposium, when Carter talked to players during the NFC session about having a "fall guy in your crew" in case the player got in trouble.

The video was brought to light after a recent ESPN The Magazine interview with former San Francisco 49erChris Borland, when Borland retold the story, but wouldn't identify who said it.Video of the symposium had been archived on NFL.com, with Carter and Warren Sapp talking to players. Carter talked about having a fall guy, and Sapp repeated Carter's statement that "we'll get him out" if the person goes to jail. The video was later removed from NFL.com.

ESPN issued a statement, saying: "We completely disagree with Cris's remarks and we have made that extremely clear to him. Those views were entirely his own and do not reflect our company's point of view in any way."

The NFL issued a statement, saying: "The comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program. The league's player engagement staff immediately expressed concern about the comment to Cris. The comment was not repeated in the 2014 AFC session or this year's symposium."

Carter took to Twitter later Sunday to apologize for his comments:

In the ESPN the Magazine story, which was posted online Friday, Borland said he was appalled at the session.

"I was just sitting there thinking, 'Should I walk out? What am I supposed to do?'" he recalled, according to the story. He told ESPN The Magazine he didn't leave the room because he didn't want to cause a scene, but the incident stayed with him.