Does This Look Like the Face of an NFL Prospect Who Said Sandy Hook was a Government Conspiracy?

PFT – NFL Media recently provided a broad, vague assessment of former Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla, calling him “[o]verly emotional and prone to outbursts following a dysfunctional childhood that offered little direction and much confusion related to a divorce.” In March 2013, Lyerla had one specific outburst that could create some red flags for one or more NFL teams interested in Lyerla. At that time, Lyerla posted multiple Twitter messages expressing support for the idea that the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut were in some way the result of a governmental conspiracy. “The parents of the kids that supposedly died in the sandy hook situation are liars,” Lyerla tweeted and later deleted… [S]ome teams (especially the Giants, Jets, and Patriots, who all play in the region containing Newtown) will surely remove Lyerla from their draft boards based his comments about Sandy Hook — unless he persuasively and unequivocally denounces them and apologizes for them… Teams presumably knew about Lyerla’s remarks, and teams presumably grilled him for them at the Scouting Combine. Beyond the interview room, Lyerla had a mixed bag of Combine results. He managed only 15 reps in the 225-pound bench press, the fewest for all tight ends. In contrast, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.61 seconds, putting him behind only Eric Ebron and A.C. Leonard at the position.

This has to kill any chance this kid has of playing pro football, doesn’t it?  And I’m not just saying as far as the Patriots, Giants and Jets are concerned, but with any team.  It just has to.  Look, I’m as in favor of Free Speech as anyone alive.  I don’t spend all day every day talking before I think in blogs, social media, on the radio and TV and in comedy clubs without being all about someone’s right to say stupid, regrettable shit.  But you have to draw the line somewhere,  and this is it.  You just can’t ask your fans to support a guy who said Sandy Hook kids “supposedly died” or who called their parents “liars” before investigators had even gone through the crime scene that will haunt their every step for as long as they live.  As much as we all despise the nutcases who said the Marathon bombings were a “false flag” or the “9/11 was an inside job” fruitcakes, being a Sandy Hook Truther seems even worse somehow.  I think tight end will be a priority for the Patriots in the draft.  And a guy with his skillset – a fast, rangy, elusive TE they can split out wide – is exactly what they need.  But I wouldn’t care if Lyerla ran routes like Kellen Winslow Sr., had Tony Gonzalez’s hands coated in Stickum, blocked like ten Gronks put together, apologized for the rest of his life and promised to give 100% of his salary to the victims. I’d rather have 53 Richie Incognitos than one Colt Lyerla.  I never want this piece of shit in New England and if they were to bring him here I swear I will never quit raising a stink about it, his apologies be damned. As the lawyers say, you cannot unring a bell.  So it’s your move, NFL personnel people.  Do you want this scumbag or are you on the side of human decency?  @JerryThornton1