SANTA CLARA – Nick Bosa, on his first full day as a member of Colin Kaepernick’s old team, publicly apologized to the former 49ers quarterback for calling him “a clown” more than 2 1/2 years ago on social media.
Bosa said the original tweet, which was since deleted by his agent after he took over Bosa’s Twitter account several months ago, was not directed at Kaepernick’s platform to bring awareness to racial inequity.
Bosa faced the Bay Area media for the first time during a press conference Friday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium after the 49ers selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft on Thursday night.
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“No, it wasn’t directed towards that,” Bosa said of his tweet directed at Kaepernick. “It’s not like I’m saying his stance and what he was doing. That’s not what I was talking about at all.
“it was a specific thing that happened and me as a young kid, (with a) thought popping into my head and, boom, just decided to tweet it out. Bad decision. I respect what he’s done. If it empowers anybody, then he’s doing a good thing. I apologize for that.”
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Bosa said there is no better place he could have ended up in the NFL that could help him grow as a person than the Bay Area. Bosa was raised in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. His parents, John and Cheryl Bosa, traveled with him from Nashville, Tenn., site of the NFL draft, and attended the press conference.
San Francisco 49ers
In addition to calling out Kaepernick, Bosa has also criticized Beyonce’s music as “complete trash” and called Black Panther the “worst Marvel movie.” Some viewed those statements as attacks against black culture.
“I definitely made some insensitive decisions throughout my life, and I’m just excited to be here with a clean slate,” Bosa said. “Sorry if I hurt anybody. I definitely didn’t intend for that to be the case. I think me being here is even better for me as a person because I don’t think there’s anywhere, any city, that you could really be in that would help you grow as much as this one will.
“I’m going to be surrounded by all different kinds, so I’m going to grow as a person and I’m going to be on my own. In college, you still have that support system around you. Now I’m here, I’m going to be on my own. I’m going to grow up and learn a lot of new things.”
Bosa reiterated his belief that he will not have any issues in the locker room. John Lynch, 49ers general manager, pointed to a moment he witnessed when Ohio State held a practice in Southern California in preparation for the Rose Bowl. Practice stopped and every player and coach on the team approached Bosa to give him a hug when he showed up on the sideline.
“That spoke to me that here they are with Urban Meyer, who's a pretty intense coach, and he just let it happen because it just happened very organically, and to watch those teammates, I think in a situation where they could have had some animosity for a guy who made a decision to leave his team to get ready for his next step in his career, in his professional career,” Lynch said. “Instead, they all were appreciative of a guy who they had a ton of respect for.
"We did a lot of talking to coaches. We did a lot of talking to Nick's teammates. What they'll tell you is he's one of the most beloved players that's ever been through there to the rest of his teammates, to the coaches and all that, and that spokes volumes to us.”
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Bosa said he will change the way he approaches social media in the future.
“I’ve learned a lot the past couple of months,” he said. “So definitely think a lot more before I send something out.”