NFL

Jacobs gets death threat from fantasy-football creep

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs is firing back at what he calls Twitter “cyber gangsters.”

Jacobs exposed tweets from a fan who threatened his and his family’s life over fantasy football — tweets that are now being examined by the NFL — and also engaged in a profane Twitter exchange with a fantasy football player who was angry Jacobs didn’t play in Monday’s game against the Vikings.

On Tuesday morning, Jacobs wrote on his Twitter account, “Look at what we deal with” and posted a link to a Twitpic that captured tweets sent by someone named Andre Rayner (@DMMeBoo). The first tweet said, “ON LIFE BRANDON IF YOU DON’T RUN FOR 50 YARDS AND 2 TOUCHDOWNS TONIGHT ITS OVER FOR YOU AND YO FAMILY” and added a racial slur.

A follow-up tweet said, “FULFILL MY ORDERS STATED IN THE PREVIOUS TWEET OR THATS YO LIFE BRUH AND IM NOT PLAYING.”

The NFL is probing the situation, and league spokesman Greg Aiello declined to comment.

https://twitter.com/gatorboyrb/status/392626382498725888/

“Obviously I feel in just hearing about this, we’re all concerned about that type of thing. It has no business or no place in professional athletics, amateur athletics or whatever,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “You can extend the entertainment business and then go ahead and begin to formulate questions about where this kind of stuff comes from.

“You’re always concerned about the player and his family, and for young people to have to worry about something is not necessary, it’s not a part of what we do, and I’m not going to speculate on social media. I’m just concerned about however this would be revealed that it’s wrong and it has no business in our game.’’

“Rayner” later wrote he was not delivering a genuine threat, groveled for forgiveness and changed his Twitter handle.

A hamstring injury sidelined Jacobs for Monday’s win over the Vikings, but it wasn’t known until the day of the game he wouldn’t be suiting up. That prompted a Twitter back-and-forth Tuesday with someone named Eric White (@_EricWhite), who wrote to him, “next time tell us you’re not playing before I have to set my lineup.” The hashtags “#ilostbecauseofyou,” “#droppingyou” and #p—y” were added.

Jacobs replied: “F**k you and your fantasy team. This is my real life.”

White then responded, “all I was saying was to tell your fantasy owners you’re not playing before Sunday.”

This is not Jacobs’ first reported experience receiving death threats on Twitter. Last August, while a member of the 49ers, Jacobs said, according to CSNbayarea.com: “One person said, ‘I hope you die a horrible death.’ I tweeted him back saying, ‘I’m sure my wife and my kids appreciate that. Have a good day.’ ”

Each Sunday, a handful of NFL players are barraged with messages from unhappy fantasy owners, upset “their” player didn’t score enough points for them.
Some players, however, have started firing back.

On Sept. 30, one after rushing for just 21 yards on 15 carries, Titans running back Chris Johnson tweeted, “Public service announcement: I can care less about fantasy football. Key word fantasy. As long as we win I’m happy. I rush for 200 n lose y’all happy.”

Even seriously injured players are treated as commodities.

Packers tight end Jermichael Finley bruised his spinal cord and was taken off the field on a stretcher Sunday, reportedly spending the night in an intensive care unit. That didn’t sit well with some fantasy owners, one of whom (@Gatman23) wrote Monday: “This is the second time this year that Jermichael Finley has one solid game for me in fantasy and boarderline dies on the field.”