Washington Redskins outside linebacker Brian Orakpo looks across the field during the first half of a NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Lipski)

Former Washington tight end and current D.C. radio host Chris Cooley made some interesting comments on his ESPN 980 show about Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins Monday afternoon, saying “From the moment Kirk was drafted, I think Robert had animosity towards him,” and “Robert was never willing to be friends with Kirk Cousins,” plus slams on Griffin for blaming the offensive line for sacks. Dan Steinberg of the D.C. Sports Bog wrote those comments up Tuesday, and they started being picked up by other media outlets and appear to have made their way to other former teammates of Cooley and Griffin. One, current Tennessee Titans linebacker Brian Orakpo, was particularly violent in his response:

https://twitter.com/rak98/status/707606535149490176

It’s notable that Cooley has blasted Orakpo before, saying the former first-round pick wasn’t a productive pick and “played more like a third-round pick” in 2015, so there’s some history here. Orakpo wasn’t the only Washington player annoyed with Cooley, though:

https://twitter.com/Niles_Paul84/status/707613833527840768

Another former Griffin teammate, Ryan Clark, went off on Cooley on First Take Wednesday:

“First of all, like, that dude, anything he says, I don’t necessarily pay attention to it, because a lot of people get out of football and forget who they were when they played football,” Clark said. “They forget that they didn’t work hard, that they weren’t the first guy in the building, and then decide to hear things and criticize people inside those locker rooms…”

“You’re saying Chris Cooley’s that guy?” someone else interjected.

“No question!” Clark said. “Right now, he’s just a dude that gets his rocks off bashing people. I was there in Washington my last year, and that’s what he did. There was never really a lot of substance to what he says, never really a lot of research into what he says. I mean, like, you say ‘These guys don’t get along.’ Duh! They’re not going to get along! Why do they need to? Why do they need to be friends? Like, we have these sorry misconceptions about locker rooms, we all hang out, we all go out to eat…”

“Like Remember the Titans,” someone interjected.

“That’s not how it works!” Clark said. “We don’t sing together!”

So, yeah, Cooley’s comments don’t appear to have gone over well, especially now that they’ve spread throughout the media landscape. It will be interesting to see if he addresses the situation further, or if Griffin responds.

[D.C. Sports Bog]

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About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.