Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver is in a boatload of trouble. Hearing about the road ahead for his former teammate, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr offered some words, some of them remorseful.
“Did I not let him know that I could be there for him at 3 AM?” Carr reflected during a Wednesday press conference. “No one ever wants to see this, whether it’s a football player or not. You never wanna see something like this happen and it broke my wife and I’s hearts, honestly.”
According to TMZ, Before the accident, Ruggs was at Top Golf. Carr said Ruggs sent a text from the driving green at the entertainment center.
“He literally texted me at midnight a golf swing, hit me and Hunter (Renfrow), ‘How’s my swing look? You guys need to help me’ and just seeing that and then getting the news when we woke up, I just … I don’t even know how I’m supposed to handle that. How am I supposed to react?”
Before leaving the podium, Carr stated he will “always” support him. “That won’t change and I prove that over course of time to him, not to anybody else, but he needs people to love him right now.”
Ruggs’ incident makes for an even tougher season for the Raiders who are recovering from their former head coach’s debacle.
Last month, it was found Gruden used misogynistic and anti-gay language in numerous emails during a seven-year period beginning in 2011, The New York Times reports. He was then fired from the team.
The Times states Gruden emailed Bruce Allen, who was at the time the president of the Washington Football Team. Gruden told Allen that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should not have endorsed the drafting of “queers,” a message in reference to Michael Sam. He would also use homophobic slurs in reference to Gruden.
Gruden also spoke against women referees, stated that Eric Reid, who protested police brutality with Colin Kaepernick by kneeling, should be fired and stated that Goodell should be checked for a concussion after he led the league in promotion of racial equality and criminal justice reform.
During the time he sent the emails, Gruden was employed by ESPN for Monday Night Football. “The comments are clearly repugnant under any circumstance,” ESPN said in a statement.
