49ers suspend broadcaster over Lamar Jackson comments

The San Francisco 49ers have suspended their radio color analyst Tim Ryan over comments made on a radio show about Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and his "dark skin color."

Ryan's comments came during his weekly appearance on KNBR's Murph and Mac radio show as he was discussing Jackson's performance in the Ravens' Week 13 win over the 49ers. Jackson threw for 105 yards and a touchdown and added another 101 yards and a score on the ground.

"He's really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing," Ryan said of Jackson's success running a zone-read attack, per The San Francisco Chronicle&utmsource=t.co&utmmedium=referral). "I mean you literally could not see when he was in and out of the mesh point and if you're a half-step slow on him in terms of your vision forget about it, he's out of the gate."

The 49ers said in a statement to NFL.com that they have reached out to the Ravens to "extend our apologies and assure them the matter is not being taken lightly."

"We are disappointed in Tim Ryan's comments earlier this week, and have suspended him for the upcoming game," the team said in a statement. "We hold Tim to a high standard as a representative of our organization and he must be more thoughtful with his words. Tim has expressed remorse in a public statement and has also done so with us privately. We know Tim as a man of high integrity and are confident he will grow and learn from this experience."

Ryan also apologized for his comments in a statement.

"I regret my choice of words in trying to describe the conditions of the game," Ryan said. "Lamar Jackson is an MVP-caliber player and I respect him greatly. I want to sincerely apologize to him and anyone else I offended."