No one is going to feel sorry for Riley Cooper, who met with teammates on Wednesday evening after a video surfaced of the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver using racially insensitive language at a concert.
Still, it's hard to imagine a less comfortable feeling than walking into an NFL locker room to address the matter. Cooper, as he had done publicly hours earlier, apologized to teammates and asked for forgiveness. It appears the large majority of teammates accepted it and are prepared to move forward.
"I know what type of person he is," said quarterback Michael Vick, via CSNPhilly.com. "That's what makes it hard to understand but easy to forgive him."
Vick said he spoke with Cooper for about 15 minutes before Cooper and the team engaged in an open dialogue session for five minutes at coach Chip Kelly's urging.
Fellow receiver Jason Avant said his heart sunk when he heard the news, but he knows Cooper is not a racist.
"A lot of guys forgave him right away," Avant said, via Philly.com. "And there's going to be guys where it takes a couple days, or a week or a month.
"It's not some kind of sweep-under-the-rug thing. There's no place for that, anyway, anyhow, anywhere. But at the same time, we can respond like the world ... which won't help anyone out in the future."
Speaking of not helping anyone, Marcus Vick surfaced on Twitter to call for a $1,000 bounty on Cooper's head. Michael Vick said his brother has to "not show a level of ignorance himself."
Marcus Vick later announced he would be deleting his Twitter account. It's nice to know at least one good thing came out of this mess.
The Around The League Podcast is now available on iTunes! Click here to listen and subscribe.
