Detroiter Jerome Bettis offers advice to Giants players on politics
· Yahoo Sports
After New York Giants players Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart found themselves at the center of a political controversy over the holiday weekend, Detroit native and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis had some advice for them, and a younger generation of players.
"You don't have to agree (on politics)," Bettis said in an interview with Fox News. "And that's the one thing. I mean, you don't agree with your teammate, but you got to find a way to work with them."
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The teammates' rift began when Dart, the Giants' quarterback and 2025 first-round pick, introduced President Donald Trump at a political rally in Suffern, New York, on Friday, May 22.
Carter, who was also a first-round pick last year, seemed to call his teammate out on X before deleting.
"Thought this (expletive) was AI," Carter wrote in a May 23 repost of the video. "What we doing, man?"
Bettis, who won a Super Bowl with the Steelers in his last season in the NFL, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, finished his 13-year NFL career with 13,662 rushing yards on 3,479 carries.
"I think politics, it's always there. It's never really in the forefront in terms of sports or a locker room. So, I don't think that's ever an issue. But what you have to do is find common ground. I think that's what team sports is all about," Bettis said.
It seems as if Dart and Carter have found an understanding after Carter's post to X in a since deleted tweet.
"Me and JD6 are good! We spoke earlier as Men," Carter wrote. "Y'all can keep y'all narratives."
Bettis also did acknowledge the landscape of politics has changed since his career, which began in 1993.
Bettis graduated from Mackenzie High School in 1990. He was a standout running back and linebacker earning Michigan Player of the Year honors during his senior year.
Bettis later attended the University of Notre Dame where he was signed as a fullback.
Bettis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015 and ranks sixth on the NFL's all-time rushing list.
USAT contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jerome Bettis offers Giants players advice on politics. What he said