Justin Rohrwasser, the kicker out of Marshall who was drafted by the New England Patriots last week, told Boston’s WBZ-TV that he will not only cover up but remove a tattoo on his arm of the roman numeral III — which is associated with the far-right militia group “The Three Percenters.”
Rohrwasser says he got the tattoo when he was 18 years old. He’s now 23, meaning he’s had the thing for five years without, according to him, understanding what it meant. Rohrwasser has maintained he thought it was a symbol of patriotism, not understanding the link to The Three Percenters group.
“As soon as I saw what it was linked to on Saturday, it was exactly that time I knew I had to get it totally taken off my body,” Rohrwasser said. “I said cover it up [to reporters], but I want to get it removed from my body. It’s shameful that I had it on there ignorantly.”
Still, I have questions:
How did no one tell him what his tattoo meant?
Within about three minutes of the Patriots drafting Rohrwasser, internet users had A) found photos of his tattoos, B) identified the one in question as a symbol of the Three Percenters, and C) shared it widely around the internet.
I’m not saying that everyone in Rohrwasser’s circle should have a working knowledge of the Three Percenters (I myself wasn’t specifically aware of the group), but after FIVE years, I find it incredibly hard to believe that no one Rohrwasser interacts with would have any idea what that means, and no one ever apprised him of it. That’s … that’s really hard to believe.
How did he not know himself?
Also hard to believe: Getting a massive tattoo on your arm with only a small, mistaken understanding of what that symbol means. I know not everyone puts in a ton of research into every tattoo he/she gets, but also, you need a pretty healthy willing suspension of disbelief to imagine he got this tattoo without understanding what it meant.
How did the Patriots not see this coming?
The Patriots saw film on this guy. They presumably saw photos. With the extensive research that teams do on their prospects (teams have famously dug into players’ family history to try and understand if they were “brought up right” or whatever), we’re saying that no one thought to ask about the tattoos on his arm, and what they meant? It’s possible, sure, but again, questions are adding up here.
How did an agent or advisor not see this coming?
Prospects are being explicitly told by the NFL now to scrub their social media history to avoid answering for things they might have said in the past. Did Rohrwasser’s agent, an advisor, anyone think to not only do that, but also maybe get out in front of the tattoo on his arm that’s linked to a far-right militia group?
Can the Patriots pretend this isn’t a thing?
This will be interesting to watch going forward. For a league that famously hates “distractions,” will the Patriots be willing to move forward and deal with the repeated questions about Rohrwasser’s politics? Will Boston media just forget about it? Is all this worth it for a kicker?
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