New England Patriots rookie kicker Justin Rohrwasser was met with a field of questions the day he was drafted, and many of them weren’t related to football.
Rohrwasser has a tattoo on his forearm supporting the right-wing militia group, the 3 Percenters. He was asked if the tattoo was associated with the group and he quickly said that getting the tattoo was a misunderstanding and he should’ve done more research. He finished fielding questions about it by saying it involved something he didn’t want to represent and that he’d get it covered.
He took it one step forward on Monday in an emotional interview with WBZ’s Steve Burton.
“We were celebrating and hugging (on Saturday). So happy. I went on to Twitter. I saw that someone had taken a picture of me and put it with my tattoo and linking me to some horrific events — obviously Charlottesville and these horrible things,” Rohrwasser said.
“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. 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.”
He spoke about his military background and how it influenced his decision to get the tattoo.
‘Wow, that is such an American sentiment, a patriotic sentiment.’ Coming from a military family, I thought that really spoke to me. I always was proud to be an American. I’m very proud to be an American,” he said.
Rohrwasser was very emotional by the end of the interview and apologized to his family for ‘putting them in a compromising position.’
“I’m sorry for all my [friends] and family that have to defend me,” Rohrwasser said. “Putting them in that compromising position is one of the biggest regrets I’ll ever have. To them, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m going to learn from this. I’m going to take ownership of it. This is not who I am. No matter what, that’s not who I am. Hopefully, you will all find that out.”
Rohrwasser was a clutch kicker at Marshall and seems to be the replacement for Stephen Gostkowski. He’ll make an immediate impact on the team and will have large shoes to fill.
[vertical-gallery id=85803]