Adam Schefter apologizes for tweet about Dwayne Haskins
The 55-year-old Schefter, who holds the title of senior NFL insider at ESPN and has a Twitter following of 9.4 million, quickly garnered major blowback from fans and athletes. Among those sharply criticizing him were Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and ex-Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones, who suggested Schefter use more positive language and wrote, “Let his family & friends grieve instead of throwing shade.”
After deleting his tweet later Saturday, Schefter posted a revision that described Haskins as “a standout at Ohio State before becoming Washington’s first-round pick and playing in Pittsburgh.”
On Monday, Schefter shared a clip from his eponymous podcast in which he offered an apology and elaborated on how Haskins became “beloved because of his smile, his attitude, his work ethic, his growth and the man that he had turned himself into.”
“Dwayne Haskins was beloved by his teammates in the NFL community, as the outpouring of support from over the weekend showed,” Schefter said. “This is the Dwayne Haskins that deserves to be remembered. This is the way he was, and the way he lived, and apologies that was not made clearer sooner by me. But the people who knew him best knew this already.”
The 15th selection in the 2019 draft, Haskins was released by Washington late in the 2020 season. He signed a one-year contract in January 2021 with Pittsburgh, which used a restricted free agent tender to retain him for the 2022 season. In the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement at the end of last season, Haskins had an opportunity to earn a spot on the Steelers’ depth chart and possibly compete for the starting job.
In his comments Monday, Schefter asserted that Pittsburgh Coach Mike Tomlin, former general manager Kevin Colbert and team president Art Rooney II “grew incredibly fond” of Haskins, who had made a point of “showing that he was grateful to be a member of the organization.” Schefter said the quarterback “adopted [Pittsburgh] as his home,” was active in the community and trained diligently at the Steelers’ facility.
“I wish I could have that tweet back,” Schefter declared on his podcast. “The focus should have been on Dwayne — who he was as a person, a husband, a friend and so much more. I wanted to apologize to Dwayne’s family, his friends, the players in the NFL, and offer my condolences to everyone close to Dwayne.”
Schefter was not the only noted figure in the NFL world who issued an apology following much-criticized comments about Haskins. Former Dallas personnel executive Gil Brandt, a member of the Pro Football Hall of…
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