NFL Hall of Famer Apologizes After Old Video Surfaces of Him Telling Rookies, 'You Got to Have a Fall Guy

Football hall of famer Cris Carter and the NFL are doing damage control after a year-old video surfaced of him giving "very bad advice" to NFL rookies: telling them to make sure to "have a fall guy" to cover up their misdeeds.

The June 2014 video had been archived on the NFL's website until it drew attention in a new ESPN interview with former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland.

"And just in case y'all not gonna decide to do the right thing, if you got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew," Carter told 2014 NFL rookies with fellow hall of famer Warren Sapp. The video had been headlined on the NFL website as, “Rookies learn life lessons from Sapp and Carter.”

Image source: YouTube

Borland had recalled the 2014 rookies advice session in his ESPN interview and mentioned a player telling the incoming class to have a "fall guy." The player's name was omitted from the story, but the video of the Sapp and Carter presentation was soon discovered, shared and spread online.

Carter responded to the growing controversy on Twitter Sunday night.

Seeing that video has made me realize how wrong I was. I was brought there to educate young people and instead I gave them very...

— Cris Carter (@criscarter80)

August 24, 2015

bad advice. Every person should take responsibility for his own actions. I’m sorry and I truly regret what I said that day.”

— Cris Carter (@criscarter80) August 24, 2015

The NFL also issued a statement, calling it "an unfortunate and inappropriate comment made by Cris Carter during the 2014 NFC rookie symposium."

"The comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program," the statement said. "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."

ESPN, where Carter is a football analyst, also disavowed his comment.

"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," ESPN said in a statement.

Reaction on Twitter was swift.

The best part of Chris Carter's moronic advice....It looks like he's wearing his Hall of Fame jacket as he does it.. NFL must be proud

— Jerry Recco (@JerryRecco) August 24, 2015

Former NFL kicker Jay Feely pointed out some irony attached to the timing of the story.

Chris Carter's a football life was on NFL Network tonight: #Irony

— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) August 24, 2015

Chris Carter should be fired from ESPN for this.https://t.co/r8mS1om3xO

— SportsWorldRadio (@SportsWrldRadio) August 24, 2015

—

Follow Mike Opelka (@Stuntbrain) on Twitter