Here we are, yet again. I am now being forced to defend Jackson Mahomes, while delivering a blistering critique of Jackson Mahomes.
Another weekend of doing what he does on an opponents field before his significantly more talented and likable older brother prepares to tortuously draw, quarter and eviscerate a team on their home field. People don’t like it.
This video was making the rounds on Twitter last night.
At its face, extremely disrespectful. Extremely. But dig deeper? Turns out WFT had chained it off so people with field passes and it turns out Jackson Mahomes was not literally dancing on the grave of Sean Taylor.
Fortunately for Jackson, the only person with less self awareness than him is Dan Snyder and the entire WFT organization, who thought it was a good idea to rope off the area of the tribute and allow people with field passes to stand on it. Where was security to let those people know that they shouldn’t be standing on or recording TikToks on the tribute to a dead person. There are literally five other people standing on the number.
People seem to think Gen Z is going to be the generation that ends the West as we know it and people like Jackson Mahomes are an easy target. I get it. It is a generation that widely lacks any semblance of self awareness (example: Child records himself doing TikTok dance on a tribute to a dead person without realizing it).
The real embarrassment is not Jackson Mahomes doing what Jackson Mahomes always does. The real embarrassment is WFT putting on this half-assed Sean Taylor tribute together at the last minute…doing what WFT/Redskins have always done. Pivot and distract from all the horrible things they do because they are an atrocious excuse of an NFL franchise. You don’t have the right to be offended when you put as much thought into a tribute to the tragedy of Sean Taylor as you would when buying a new couch.
Complaints about sexual harassment in the front office in an ESPN article? Say you’re thinking about changing your name.
We got caught prostituting our cheerleaders to corporate sponsors? Change the name of the team like people have been asking.
Former GM got exposed for conspiring with the NFL’s most powerful journalist and may have been implicated in leaking emails that led to the firing and public humiliation of a well-respected coach, broadcaster and future Hall of Famer? SEAN TAYLOR JERSEY RETIREMENT THAT WE’VE BEEN PUTTING OFF FOR WHATEVER REASON.
Don’t project this on Jackson Mahomes. He’s going to do what he does because he’s part of a generation that lives off of clout. Understand that this is the type of attention-seeking behavior to expect from people in this generation. They’re awful. But let’s not pretend like this was Logan Paul recording himself with dead bodies in the Suicide Forest in Japan.
The Football Team invited this kind of behavior when they made the decision to hastily honor the victim of one of the most tragic stories in sports history to cover their own ass, because they are going to do what they have always done.
The antics of Jackson and the fiancΓ©e Brittany are becoming just as big of a story as what happens on the field. I am not going to try to diminish the joy and privilege of what it must feel like when your family ascends to the celebrity and success that Patrick Mahomes has in such a short time, and I am not going to be the guy to tell them how they should be celebrating. What I do know is that it’s becoming less of a story and more of an actual problem. Given the uncharacteristically sloppy play of Patrick Mahomes to start the season, this has turned into an elephant in the room.
The sideshow is becoming the main event and that cannot continue.