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ESPN radio host Chris Canty demanded the media “give Lamar Jackson his respect” heading into the postseason. He said he was sick of the disrespect and people personalizing their coverage of Jackson.
Who exactly was disrespecting Jackson is unclear, given he is likely to win his third NFL MVP next week.
But such commentary is common throughout ESPN. Commentaries rage against strawmen in Jackson’s honor. ESPN pundits claim Jackson is treated differently than other quarterbacks because he looks different, “wears platinum grills on the field,” and his “hair is woven tightly into a dozen tiny braids.”
As we await examples of these claims, we noticed some oddities in ESPN’s coverage of another quarterback. No, not Josh Allen. It is well established that ESPN frequently targets Allen as a means to prop up Lamar. We are referring to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Currently trending on X is a comment Canty made about Burrow on “First Take” on Friday morning with Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton. On set, Canty was angered by the notion that Burrow is “elite.” To him, Burrow is just average.
X users could not understand how a paid analyst could argue that Burrow – who led the NFL in passing touchdowns and yards – does not qualify as elite. They can’t understand the dismissal of the only active quarterback to beat Mahomes in the playoffs.
But it turns out there’s a trend. For months, Canty has been disrespecting Burrow—to use a word—mocking his looks. “Damn it. Stop putting the guy with frosted tips in his hair ahead of Lamar Jackson,” he said of Burrow’s new hairstyle, while angered that unnamed figures might prefer Burrow to Jackson.
CINCINNATI – Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals warms up before the game against the New England Patriots at Paycor Stadium on September 8, 2024. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
Can you imagine if someone went on ESPN and said, “Stop putting the guy with cornrows ahead of Josh Allen”? They would be fired immediately. Canty would blow a gasket. In fact, Canty and race clowns would feign outrage if someone even dared to say Jackson “wasn’t elite.”
But because Canty, a black Lamar fanboy, ridiculed Burrow, ESPN is fine with the commentary.
OutKick asked Canty and ESPN PR stooge Bill Hofheimer for comment on the network’s hypocritical, seemingly racist coverage of Joe Burrow. Neither responded. We will update this story if either does.
To no fault of his own, Lamar Jackson brings out the worst in the sports media.
See, the vast majority of sports commentators on television today are black (partly because ESPN doesn’t hire many white people and most NFL players are black). And because the media has cast Jackson as a critical character in the race war, most black commentators are afraid to ever side with a white player over him.
As Jason Whitlock noted, black commentators are just as afraid to be labeled “sellouts” as white commentators as to be labeled “racists.”
“They’re all afraid of being labeled sellouts or racist on social media. You rig the convos with a weak (least informed, least credible person on the panel) host who lives in fear of social media backlash and then you let nature (social media matrix) control the convoy,” Whitlock posted on X about ESPN’s coverage of Jackson. “You can’t have a rugged conversation when the host believes tweets and posts break bones.”
There is so much sensitivity around the quarterback discussion. So much so, the intellectually weak, like Canty, mock Burrow for his looks while accusing unnamed “people” of “disrespecting” Jackson.
The same can be said about his former colleague, Robert Griffin III.
Griffin argued after the Ravens’ playoff loss to the Bills that Jackson deserves zero blame because “football is a team sport.” A week later, Griffin argued after the Bills’ playoff loss to the Chiefs that Josh Allen deserves the blame for the loss.
Got that?
Griffin also dismissed Allen as “Philip Rivers” by saying he is on a trajectory to never win a Super Bowl. (But Lamar is?)
When you remove race from the conversation—something Canty struggles to do—you quickly find how ignorant the entire conversation is.
Here is the truth: Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. It’s not close. He has three Super Bowl rings. He is favored to win his fourth next week. He has appeared in five of the last six Super Bowls, a feat never accomplished by any quarterback before him.
And then you have three great quarterbacks who were, unfortunately, born in the same era as Mahomes: Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen. Interestingly, Mahomes has defeated each of the three in back-to-back-to-back AFC Championship Games.
One can rank the three of them in any order they choose. Jackson has been the best of the three in the regular season, yet has been the worst in the postseason –winning just three playoff games. Burrow is 5-2 in the postseason, including a trip to the Super Bowl. Allen has won seven playoff games, including a 2-0 record against Jackson. Of the three, Allen has statistically played at a much higher level in the playoffs.
The argument that Burrow is the best of the trio includes him playing for a notoriously cheap franchise in the Bengals. While the Ravens and Bills are active in the offseason and trade deadline, the Bengals look to save money. It’s harder to win in Cincinnati than in Baltimore or Buffalo.
Still, we won’t demean you if you prefer Jackson to Burrow because of his signature running ability. Or Allen over Burrow because he’s bigger, faster, stronger, and stays healthier. But to act like Burrow and Allen are not on the same level as Jackson–as Canty does–is just laughable.
Yet here we are.
The sports media has become a brigade of racially obsessed fanboys who worship the field on which Jackson plays. Consequently, they cover Burrow and Allen with the same type of racial animus with which they accuse others of covering Jackson.
