NFL Reacts to 'Dust-Up' Apology from Washington Commanders Coach Jack Del Rio

Washington Commands defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio finds himself in national headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Washington Commanders fans continue to find their team in national headlines for unfortunate reasons. 

Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio sent shockwaves through social media when he compared George Floyd’s death to the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

In a press conference Wednesday, Del Rio elaborated further on his comments when defending his now-deleted Tweet:

“What did I ask? A simple question. Why are we not looking into those things if we're going to talk about it? Why are we not looking into those things? Because it's kind of hard for me to say— I can realistically look at it, I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down. No problem. And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol. Nothing burned down, and we're not going to talk about— we're going to make that a major deal. I just think there are kind of two standards, and if we apply the same standard and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion.”

As it turns out, social media wasn’t fond of Del Rio downplaying the first time the Capitol had been breeched since 1812. Numerous prominent voices took to social media to voice their disdain for the comments, some in especially creative ways.

This will be the only analsys I ever provide on any jack del Rio news https://t.co/flORIlZaK6

— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) June 8, 2022

His comments gained additional scrutiny when viewed in context to his remarks on Colin Kaepernick's protests back in 2016.

Jack Del Rio today: “I have fully supported all peaceful protests in America.”

Also, Jack Del Rio: pic.twitter.com/hZKNRJLe07

— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) June 8, 2022

Del Rio unsurprisingly caved to the negative press, releasing a classic notes app apology on his Twitter account.

When originally asked in his press conference about whether he believed his initial tweet would cause discordance in the locker room, Del Rio's response was simple:

"Nope. Not at all."

Since his press conference Wednesday morning though, he has firmly planted himself in the national spotlight. 

Though it's impossible to speculate the current state of the Washington locker room, Washington fans, hopeful that the ongoing OTAs will push the team toward a productive season, surely hope this situation won't manifest itself as some form of conflict behind closed doors.