Weaver apologizes for 'slaves' comment
Update: In a string of Tweets Wednesday morning, Eagles fullback Leonard Weaver apologized for comments he made Tuesday night, in which he said NFL owners should stop treating the players "like slaves."
Here are Weaver's Tweets:
Hey everyone I'm here in therapy an I have seen the recording of the interview....
And I will have to say that I'm very disappointed in the whole interview an the comments I made.
I first want to apologizes for the bad choice ode words, and using the word slavery.
Now, that I have seen it, I will say that it was hard for me to watch and after thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that.....
I represented my family, friends and organization the wrong way. I'm sorry for those words I used and if I offend anyone, please forgive me.
To all my fans whom I've disappointed I'm sorry.
Weaver, a fan favorite, added that he came off in the wrong way and will explain himself.
ORIGINAL POST
Eagles fullback Leonard Weaver sounded off on NFL owners Tuesday and said he agreed with Adrian Peterson's comparison of the players to slaves.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports last week, Peterson said the players' fight with the owners was like "modern day slavery."
In an interview with Comcast SportsNet's Derrick Gunn, Weaver said that the owners need to stop treating the players "like slaves."
So that there is no question about the context, here is the full version of what Weaver said:
"Are the owners looking at us as players and saying, what if these guys get hurt and we're not taking care of them years up the road? Or what if we cut this individual and he's not making the income that some of the other guys are, and he can't take care of his family? Are they looking at that end of the spectrum for us as well?
"We, as players, we're businessmen as well as they're businessmen. And one of the things that we understand about ourselves is that we are taking all the risk by putting our bodies out there on that field, and we're at risk at death every time we touch that field. What is an owner gonna do for me if I die on the field? Are they gonna send condolences to my family? Are they gonna take care of my family for the rest of their lives? I mean, how does that work? And so we as players want to make the statement that you know what, we love playing for you all, we love you owners, we love you guys very much, but at the same time, we need to see some equal opportunity here, and stop treating us, basically like Adrian Peterson said, like slaves."
Weaver, a fan favorite here, signed a reported three-year, $11.2M deal ($6.5M guaranteed) before the 2010 season.
He suffered a devastating knee injury during Week 1 against the Packers, but told the Daily News' Les Bowen earlier this offseason that he has no doubt he'll be returning to the field.
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