The Shady Side Of Nick Bosa
Nick Bosa has football in his DNA. The son of former Miami Dolphins defensive end John Bosa and brother of Los Angeles Chargers star defensive end Joey Bosa, Nick committed to Ohio State as a five-star recruit in 2015 and instantly became one of the best players in college football. Before a bilateral core muscle injury cut his junior and final season, Bosa was a force off the edge, racking up 17.5 sacks and 29 tackles for loss – cementing him as a "can't miss prospect" in the 2019 NFL Draft. "Nick Bosa is the best defensive lineman in college football. Period. Quite frankly, it's not even close," reported Pro Football Focus.
Not only does he have a devastating pass rush, Bosa has Twitter takes that come in just as hot as well. The potential No. 1 pick in the draft has strong opinions, and his ability to throw shade rubs some people the wrong way. Whether you love him or loathe him, let's huddle up and take a look at the more controversial side of Nick Bosa.
His politics have become a hot topic
According to Sports Illustrated, Nick Bosa "quote tweeted a picture of Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan with the caption, 'Goats.'" His Twitter feed, which has since been scrubbed, was once reportedly full of support for Donald Trump and, according to The Root, a dislike for "everything black." Some critics have wondered if Nick's online presence indicates a racist attitude. As 49ersHUB writer Evan Sowards put it: "So is Nick Bosa just internet racist, or full blown MAGA racist?"
Conservative website Breitbart came to Nick's defense, noting that the pass rusher has also expressed support for black conservatives. "The charge of racism against Bosa is even more absurd after looking at his timeline," Breitbart reported. "Bosa has retweeted black conservative radio host Larry Elder, perhaps more than he's retweeted any other political personality. Making it clear that the likely future #1 pick doesn't dislike black people, he just doesn't seem to like liberals."
While the public debates his intentions on social media, in NFL draft rooms, it's Nick's talent that folks are focused on. "I can't imagine a team sitting in a draft room — and I've asked teams — saying, 'We're going to pass on this guy because he's left or right wing,'" ESPN analyst Todd McShay told The New York Times. "As long as it's not something that from a character standpoint is something that is concerning or alarming, I don't think politics will play into where a guy gets picked."
Who doesn't like Beyoncé?
Considering her iconic 2016 album Lemonade and her Homecoming documentary detailing her legendary Coachella performance, Beyoncé is among the biggest musical stars on the planet. However, her 2016 Super Bowl halftime performance drew criticism from some media outlets and personalities who believed it was an attack on police.
"I think it was outrageous," Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told Fox News (via Billboard). "The halftime show I thought was ridiculous anyway. I don't know what the heck it was. A bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible. This is football, not Hollywood, and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive." During the height of that controversy (per Sports Yahoo), Nick Bosa tweeted: "Beyoncés music is complete trash." He later deleted that message, but we assume the Beyhive won't be purchasing any Bosa jerseys.
He called Colin Kaepernick a 'clown'
Former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick set off a political firestorm in 2016 over his decision to not stand during the national anthem in protest to draw attention to social justice and racial inequality issues. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick said (via NFL.com). "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." The following year, Kaepernick became a free agent and was not signed by another team.
How did Nick Bosa react to this? In a now-deleted tweet from 2016, he wrote, "Kaepernick is a clown." Bosa didn't elaborate, but we assume he didn't mean Kaepernick makes balloon animals at children's birthday parties.
By the way, Kaepernick reached a financial settlement agreement with the NFL in February 2019, after he filed a grievance accusing owners of colluding to keep him out of the league due to his political beliefs. Though he certainly had his fair share of critics, more than 95 percent of NFL players reportedly supported Kaepernick.
He thinks Black Panther is the worst
2018 was the year of Black Panther. Grossing more than $1 billion worldwide and becoming the first superhero movie nominated for a best picture Oscar, Black Panther was a cultural phenomenon. Nick Bosa must be a DC guy because, in yet another now-deleted tweet, he called it the "worst marvel movie of all time." Now, you can watch all the Marvel movies and objectively know that's not true, but we assume Bosa has his reasons.
Needless to say, others in the twittersphere had a thing or two to say about it. User @dallasbhinson replied to Bosa's tweet: "Can't wait until next year in the draft [when] everyone is asking why Nick is falling and people can refer back to these unnecessary hot takes..smh," to which Bosa shot back: "Because movie opinions effect [sic] draft stock." The back and forth continued, with Bosa's critic tweeting: "Commenting on the only black marvel movie does..foolio..ur opinion on it is not that important that u need to tweet about the ONLY black marvel movie."
No matter what you think of him, Bosa has made at least one notable new fan on Twitter. "Hey Nick Bosa, we got your back. MAGA," tweeted conservative talking head Tomi Lahren.
His reason for deleting his old tweets was suspect
"So, to summarize some of the tweets from next year's likely No. 1 draft pick, Nick Bosa: 1. Black Panther is the worst Marvel movie. 2. Beyoncé's music is 'trash.' 3. Kaepernick is a 'clown.' Alllllllllllllllrighty then," tweeted Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman in 2018. Flash forward to 2019: Bosa has scrubbed all those tweets. His reason? "I had to," he told ESPN. "There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco."
People weren't buying what Bosa was selling. "By deleting his old posts, and acknowledging he's doing it because he's concerned about negative reaction, Bosa is signalling he doesn't have enough faith in his convictions to defend them, or that he'd just rather not admit to having the views he does," wrote USA Today's Nancy Armour. "Because if he's taken the time to consider why he believes what he does, he should have no problem explaining that, controversial or disagreeable as the opinions might be."
When asked about Bosa's social media activity, San Francisco 49ers General Manager John Lynch downplayed the controversy. "We try to be as thorough in the process as we can," Lynch said (via NBC Sports). "That is something we look at it. We also look at what kind of teammate is he. What do his teammates think about him?"
He's ready to move on and focus on football
In an interview with USA Today Sports a day before the draft, Joey Bosa said his sports agent "scrubbed" his Twitter. "It's not like I told them to take anything down. They just went through and cleared out whatever. Anything that would cause controversy." When asked about the backlash surrounding the removal of his tweets, Bosa replied, "I don't know why people care about that so much, but I'm just getting ready for tomorrow. I'm excited."
As for what happens next, Bosa isn't trying to overthink it. "I'm getting kept pretty busy right now, so I'm not able to think about it quite as much," he told NBC Sports. "It's awesome. It's what I've been working for since I was 7 years old. I think it'll really hit me tomorrow. I'm just really excited to find out where the next journey is." The furthest thing from his mind? Twitter. "I'm not really worried about Twitter anymore," he said. "And I'm going to keep my opinions to myself from now on."
His older brother, Joey Bosa, wants teams to know that they don't need to worry about any distractions going forward. "He's so laser-focused right now, it's unbelievable," Joey told ESPN's Kevin Van Valkenburg (via 247 Sports). "He understands the opportunity in front of him. He just needs to put all he has into this moment right now, which is what he's doing, and it's going to pay off for him."