Jake Fromm owned his words, apologizing for them in Thursday’s team meeting.
Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier expects players to give the rookie quarterback a chance to learn and grow from his “mistake.”
“Jake seemed very sincere in his apology,” Frazier said in a Zoom call with reporters Thursday. “I think for our team, we have a strong culture on our team. Those guys are going to be able to sift through what is real and what’s not real. We haven’t been around Jake. We haven’t had a chance to spend much time with him because of the virtual offseason that we’re in. He’s a teammate. Those guys, I think over time, he’ll gain their trust.
“For all of us, we make mistakes. He acknowledged that ‘I made a mistake.’ There are a number of us who could say the same thing at some point or another, especially in our youth, who have made some mistakes. You move on from it and you grow from it. That’s what we’re going to try to do I’m sure as a team. Grow from it. I know Jake wants to grow from it as well.”
Fromm said in texts from March 16, 2019, that he thinks “guns are good,” adding, “Just make them very expensive so only elite white people can get them haha.”
The former Georgia quarterback released an apology on social media Thursday.
Frazier said it’s time for everyone to come together to be part of the change that makes things better.
“We’re still getting to know Jake as a teammate. We haven’t been in the locker room together, but based on what he said to the team today, I really believe our guys will give him benefit of the doubt,” Frazier said in a follow-up question about Fromm’s apology to the team. “They’re looking forward to communicating with him and encouraging him.
“One of the things we talked about in our meetings earlier was the fact that love has to overcome hate. It’s easy to just continue to go down that hate, hate, hate road. That’s not what we want to be. In order to change this, it has to be a reciprocal effort on both sides, and we have enough guys on our team to be better. I know the guys are giving Jake every chance to prove that those words that were echoed I don’t know how long ago that that was a teachable moment for Jake, and that he’s learned from that moment.”