San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman admitted that Baker Mayfield deserves an apology following his erroneous claim that the Cleveland Browns quarterback snubbed him prior to a pregame coin toss.
"It's definitely my bad," Sherman said on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday. "I never want anybody to deal with some (expletive) that -- I mean some, some stuff that they didn't do. And so, you know, the questions that he's gonna get and the annoying, nonsense questions about some stuff that happened in a game that's already been done, you know, sure he'll get an apology for that.
"I'll probably reach out to him via text or social media to actually get ahold of him and talk to him in person, I mean on the phone. But, yeah, because that (stinks) ... But yeah, yeah. He definitely deserves an apology, and my bad on that."
Sherman started the handshake flap with his comments after the 49ers breezed to a 31-3 win over the Browns on Monday.
"What's amazing, and annoying, was him not shaking hands at the beginning," the 31-year-old Sherman told NFL.com's Mike Silver on Monday night. "That's some college (expletive). It's ridiculous. We're all trying to get psyched up, but shaking hands with your opponent -- that's NFL etiquette. And when you pull bush league stuff, that's disrespectful to the game. And believe me, that's gonna get us fired up."
Sherman remained fired up on the matter before issuing an apology that came on the heels of video depicting Mayfield providing physical acknowledgment with the cornerback prior to Monday's game.
Although he said Mayfield was owed an apology, Sherman maintained that he felt disrespected by the quarterback.
"I may have phrased it differently, but I meant what I said," Sherman said on Wednesday. "I did feel the disrespect. ... I felt disrespect and at the end of the day that's all the story was, really. Like, people can say, 'Oh my God, he shook your hand' or 'Oh my God you were wrong.' You can say whatever you want. I don't give a damn."
-- Field Level Media