NFL

Sunday’s NFL: Ex-Michigan kicker Jay Feely apologizes for prom photo

Detroit News wire services

Former University of Michigan and NFL kicker Jay Feely apologized for a photo he intended as a joke, showing him holding a gun as he poses with his daughter and her prom date.

“Wishing my beautiful daughter and her date a great time at prom,” the CBS Sports analyst wrote in a Twitter post on Saturday night, showing him holding a gun at his side, with his daughter rolling her eyes on one side and her date grinning on the other side.

The photo got more than 60,000 likes and 10,000 retweets, but there also was enough negative backlash to the photo, intended as a joke, that Feely went back on Twitter to apologize on Sunday.

“The prom picture I posted was obviously intended to be a joke,” wrote the 41-year-old, who played 14 seasons in the NFL from 2001-14. “My daughter has dated her boyfriend for over a year and they knew I was joking. I take gun safety seriously (the gun was not loaded and had no clip in) and I did not intend to be insensitive to that important issue.”

Feely, who played for the Arizona Cardinals from 2010-13, now lists Arizona as his home on Twitter.

He played for the Michigan Wolverines from 1995-98, then the Tampa Bay Storm in 2000 before beginning his professional career.

Pressure on Cowboys

Cowboys fans face a frightening reality with the NFL draft headed to town.

This Cowboys team that ended the season Dec. 31 with a 9-7 record and out of the playoffs hasn’t improved over the last four months.

Now Dallas needs to score a big victory in the first Texas-based draft.

In this high-stakes game of backyard football, the Cowboys need to resemble the kid flexing rather than the one rolling on the ground crying.

The Cowboys need a draft that duplicates their immediate-impact haul of 2016 rather than what they experienced last year.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones made it clear from the outset in January that Dallas wouldn’t be a big player in free agency.

But the Cowboys’ rough offseason has been more about what they’ve lost instead of what they possibly missed out on in free agency.

The Cowboys released their No. 1 pass receiver, Dez Bryant, this month after having bid adieu to one of their top cornerbacks, Orlando Scandrick, in March.

Dallas also cut defensive end Benson Mayowa, who had six sacks two years ago, and chose not to re-sign free-agent linebacker Anthony Hitchens and offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper. Hitchens has started the last two seasons at middle linebacker and was among the team’s top tacklers.

Cooper started 13 games last season at left guard.