Let’s talk about his social media history and what that means for the fans
So, there’s an elephant in the room that we haven’t talked about much. Nick Bosa and his social media history as it relates to Donald Trump. This will likely go a number of different ways.
“Who cares, that was in the past.”
“Stick to football.”
“Oh, wow, that’s not great.”
“[Site decorum] that guy.”
Some of you may not even know some of the things Bosa has said in the past. Again, most may not even care. From a recent ESPN article:
These type of things come up every draft season. Bosa scrubbed his twitter, so none of these remain. The obvious connection here is Colin Kaepernick and the city of San Francisco. Just reading that, it doesn’t sound like a guy that is remorseful or regrets what he said. It comes off as “if I’m going to be in San Francisco, I can’t talk about these things.” The awareness is there, I suppose.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having different political views. I have close friends that are all over the map. It would be naive to think Bosa would be the only pro-Trump supporter in the locker room. It would also be tough to find someone who has been as vocal as Bosa has been.
This is a topic of discussion for both the players and the fans.
Fooch
Y’all knew I’d have an opinion on this. I’ve mostly hung under the radar with regards to the site, but given how I chose to cover the Kaepernick saga on the site and my own personal opinions, I wanted to weigh in.
There are all sorts of political opinions on this site, ranging all across the spectrum from far right to far left. Some folks agree with what Nick Bosa believes and previously professed on social media. Others take exception to it. Given my history on this site, most if not all of you know that I am part of the latter group.
Earlier in the offseason, the general thought was that Bosa would go No. 1 to the Arizona Cardinals. I honestly did not think much about his opinions when it did not seem like he would slip past No. 1. As the Kyler Murray situation has materialized and the odds have grown that Bosa will be there at No. 2, it’s forced me to think about it further.
From a purely football perspective, Bosa would be an immediate upgrade to the 49ers shaky pass rush. Even with the addition of Dee Ford, this unit needs younger blood to build around. No draft pick is a sure thing, but it’s hard not to be excited about what Bosa could bring to the pass rush right out of the gate.
For many fans, that’s all they need. They are able to separate their personal opinions from their football opinions. I am not one of those people. It does not make me better or worse, but it does impact my fan experience. If the 49ers end up drafting Bosa, I have no doubt that when he sacks Russell Wilson or Jared Goff, I’ll jump out of my seat in excitement. That has happened with any 49ers player about whom I might have a negative opinion for one reason or another. Fandom is instinctive in a lot of ways, and during the heat of the game, I’m not necessarily sorting through how I feel about the various issues.
That being said, it does leave me conflicted outside of game action when I have time to just sit and think about the situation and his beliefs. As Kyle mentioned above, it would be naive to think he’s the only Trump supporter in the locker room. But few if any of the rest of the roster has been previously as vocal about it, and so if he ended up on the roster, he would remain front of mind.
Whether or not that’s fair to him is certainly worth considering, but either way, my feelings are what they are. I have serious issues with his support of Trump, and I have to reconcile that with how I view the team. And frankly, I don’t really know where I’m at with it. I’m not going to walk away from supporting the 49ers because they choose to draft Bosa. At the same time, him joining the 49ers and deciding not to tweet as much doesn’t change my opinion of his political view.
I wish I could write it off and not think about it, but as my coverage of the past few years showed, that’s just not how I operate. That’s my own issue to deal with, but I imagine I am not the only one here figuring out how to deal with that.
Kyle
Just from the sites perspective, we won’t be talking about this on the regular. When it pertains to a certain situation or if it comes up again, then we will. I doubt that it will. If the team passes on him and it leaks that this had anything to do with it? We’ll be all over it.
We will be talking about plenty of non-football related topics. Mental health is a big one for me. I think as fans we can do a better job of getting out in the community and supporting these type of things. Hopefully during the summer there are events in the area that we can all meet up for. We’ll get there.
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