You ever tweet something… and then immediately think, “Whelp, that was a terrible idea…” Well, imagine doing that with thousands of followers while also potentially being the face of a multi-billion-dollar franchise and having your entire career dissected in real-time by fans, media, and your own teammates. Welcome to the NFL, baby—where the talent is elite, the stakes are massive, and the tweets, at times… are downright unhinged.
From delusional rants to conspiracy theories to full-on meltdowns, these are the digital moments that made the league’s PR departments wish Twitter never existed!
Let’s take a look back at the 10 MOST WTF Tweets we’ve ever seen posted by NFL players.
What are the worst tweets that ever came out from NFL players?
Jermaine Whitehead
Sometimes, an NFL player’s errant “WTF” Tweet is playful, silly, or misguided.
But in the case of former Browns defensive back Jermaine Whitehead, it was none of those things.
It was honestly a little bit frightening.
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After getting torched by Noah Fant, as the then Broncos tight end steamrolled him for a 75-yard TD and subsequently roasted by Browns fans, Jermaine Whitehead responded like a demonically possessed man.
Whitehead wrote, “Imma kill you b—-.. that’s on blood” to another Twitter user, poking fun at his poor play.
He even went after NFL analysts like Dustin Fox, who were merely doing their jobs and offering their critique of the game.
In response to Fox’s criticism, Whitehead wrote, “Come get it in blood b—- made ass lil boy. I’m out there with a broke hand .. don’t get smoked … “
Due to the threatening nature of the content, Twitter actually suspended his account before the team could even deal with him… which they did in swift order, waiving him, and essentially putting the nail in the coffin for his NFL career.
Hopefully, Whitehead was able to work on his anger management issues in his forced retirement because that was a scary response to very basic internet behavior.
Dion Lewis
I guess we are starting this off with a couple of the darker WTF NFL tweets…
Because this is another one that doesn’t come from a place of confusion or emotion… but rather is just plain unsettling.
Back in 2013, former Patriots running back Dion Lewis entered some incredibly murky waters by tweeting support for—of all people—Aaron Hernandez, who at the time was awaiting murder trial and would later be implicated in a second double homicide—and had a pretty troubling history at large of doing other terrifying things.
Now, you would think that anyone who didn’t want to speak out against Hernandez for whatever reason would likely elect to remain silent… right?
Or maybe a generic “innocent until proven guilty” take if they felt like getting involved.
But Dion Lewis decided the real problem here… was the friends who snitched.
In a now-deleted tweet, Lewis wrote, “#urrealfriends,” criticizing the people who cooperated with police and implying that Hernandez’s real ones would’ve stayed quiet.
Lewis deleted the tweet quickly, but the internet never forgets. No apology or explanation surfaced, either. It’s just a bizarre reminder that we live in a complex world where there is a wide range of ways that different people view different scenarios.
Pat McAfee
This one’s a little more lighthearted—thankfully—but still manages to sit firmly in that “What were you thinking?” category.
Back in the Wild Card round of the 2013 playoffs, the Colts had just pulled off an improbable comeback win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Spirits were high. Emotions were flying. And Pat McAfee, the team’s punter-slash-Twitter-guru, did what he always did—he logged on.
McAfee quickly deleted the photo, but other media outlets had already caught it and, thus, it was a part of the online ecosystem all to see.
Now, most people don’t bounce back from tweeting a picture of their franchise quarterback in the nude… Especially not a special teamer, but McAfee managed to do it in true McAfee fashion by Tweeting through it.
He got fined behind the scenes but managed to keep his job and his relationship with Luck, so I’d chalk that one up as a win.
Mike Wallace
This one came in hot… and aged terribly.
Back in 2013, after NBA player Jason Collins made history by becoming the first active male athlete in one of the four major American sports leagues to come out as gay, most of the sports world responded with support, praise, and respect.
And then there was Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace.
Wallace took to Twitter and wrote:
“All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys… SMH.”
Wallace deleted the tweet almost immediately, and to the former NFL wide receiver’s credit, he did issue an apology shortly afterward, claiming his post came from a place of ignorance rather than hate, which, in his defense, is hard to argue.
In all likelihood, it was just a young guy trying to get a joke off online, and he failed to realize what the response would be… or how it would make others feel.
Fortunately for Wallace, this one didn’t cost him his job or tank his career, but it definitely went down as one of the more tone-deaf moments in NFL Twitter history.
Chris Johnson
In early 2010, after it was announced that Peyton Manning had been named the league MVP for the 2009 season, Titans running back Chris Johnson took to Twitter to let everyone know he was not thrilled with that outcome.
“Do any body got payton address I got to go get my award,”
The tweet came off like a bitter high schooler complaining about not being voted All-Conference!
First off—yes, Chris Johnson rushed for over 2,000 yards that season. He was electric, no doubt about it. One of the most exciting backs to watch and arguably the fastest guy in the league at the time.
But also… the Titans went 8-8. They didn’t make the playoffs. They didn’t contend, it was another one of those seasons where they just kind of existed.
Meanwhile, Peyton led the Colts to a 14-2 record and an AFC title. He wasn’t just putting up numbers—he was stacking wins.
So, while CJ-2K may have had a case for Offensive Player of the Year, which he did win, by the way, MVP? Not so much.
He does get bonus points for misspelling “Peyton,” though!
Antonio Cromartie
Back in 2011, tensions were boiling over in the NFL’s labor negotiations. Players were frustrated. Owners were stubborn. And Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie? He had thoughts that drew criticism from several former players…
Including Matt Hasselbeck who then made the mistake of calling Cromartie’s intelligence into question publicly, tweeting, “Somebody ask Cromartie if he knows what CBA stands for.”
Though Hasselback promptly deleted the tweet, Cromartie caught wind of it, and to say he took it personally is putting it lightly.
He responded with this gem: “Hey Matt if u have something to then say it be a man about it. Don’t erase it. I will smash ur face in.”
Hasselbeck backpedaled immediately like he was facing the blitz—and tried to cool the situation by responding to Cromartie in a more playful tone: “Sorry for the joke man,” he wrote. “No hard feelings. DB’s & QB’s have a hard time getting along I guess sometimes. Lol”
But the moment was already cemented. Cromartie looked like he was ready to fight in the parking lot of the NFLPA headquarters, while Matt just looked like a guy who badly wanted to delete his account.
In the grand scheme of things, it was just a heated moment during a tense time—but it remains one of the all-time “yikes” tweet exchanges in NFL Twitter history.
LeSean McCoy
This one went from “mildly embarrassing” to “full-on disaster” in a matter of tweets.
In January 2013, LeSean McCoy—then one of the league’s top running backs—decided it was a good time to air out some very personal dirty laundry on the most public platform imaginable.
What started as a petty argument with the mother of his child over grammar—yes, grammar—quickly turned into a full-blown meltdown that made even the most hardened Eagles fans cringe.
She made the mistake of correcting his spelling of the word vocation and next thing you know—Shady lost it!
McCoy quickly claimed that he was hacked, which would be the most oddly specific hacking that the world has ever seen.
Eventually, he deleted his account entirely. Which, honestly, might’ve been the only good call he made that day.
He’s since returned to Twitter, of course, but the internet never forgets…
Reggie Bush
Now, here’s one of those tweets where you just sit there and think… “Wait, he really thought that was gonna land?”
Back in May 2012, Reggie Bush—who, at the time, was suiting up for the Detroit Lions—decided to live-tweet the Champions League Final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Nothing wrong with that.
But then he drops this line:
“Shoot Drogba might even hit a Nazi chick tonight in Germany! LOL!”
And all you can really do is blink at your phone and wonder what corner of his brain thought that was a clever punchline that was going to do well, given the social climate at the time.
Keep in mind, this was in 2012—when people could no longer claim ignorance on what Twitter was and how it should be used… People were… or should have been well aware of how fast things could go sideways.
You’d think someone with a massive platform might have a little filter. Or, you know, some grasp on world history.
The tweet got deleted almost instantly, of course. But, of course, not before the internet locked it away in the vault of “Did That Really Happen?” moments.
There was no follow-up. No apology. Just a bad joke that missed by about 70 years and 6 million decibels of tone-deaf.
Reggie’s career wasn’t derailed or anything—but it remains one of the strangest “What was the thought process here?” tweets we’ve ever seen from an NFL player.
Rashard Mendenhall
In 2011, news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed. America, as you’d expect, erupted in celebration. But not everyone was throwing parades.
Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall took to Twitter and asked:
“What kind of person celebrates death?”
“It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”
“What kind of person celebrates death?” he wrote. “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”
Backlash came immediately. Mendenhall tried to walk it back two days later with a longer post about morality, hypocrisy, and how he wasn’t defending bin Laden—he was reflecting on how America reacted to death.
“This controversial statement was something I said in response to the amount of joy I saw in the event of a murder. I don’t believe that this is an issue of politics or American pride, but one of religion, morality, and human ethics,” he wrote.
And when that didn’t work, he pulled the Hail Mary… literally … and posted a Bible verse in the explanation trying to excuse his actions.
Swing and a miss Rashard, let’s just call it what it is.
Antonio Brown
There are a lot of Antonio Brown tweets you could file under the NFL “WTF” category. Like… a lot. Honestly, you could make an entirely separate video just called “The 100 Most WTF Things Antonio Brown Has Posted Online.”
But this one? This one still manages to stand out.
The fact that Antonio Brown unleashed this tweet after a very public incident in which AB quite literally exposed himself to a woman at a hotel pool in Dubai on camera is just as insane as he is.
This wasn’t some innocent football jargon gone sideways. This was AB being AB—loud, unfiltered, and completely unapologetic.
The man has been spiraling on social media for years now, and this tweet was just the latest entry in a long-running saga of chaos-as-marketing.
At this point, it is clear that Antonio Brown has fully leaned into the villain role. He’s not trying to be liked. He’s not trying to be understood. He’s trying to stay in the spotlight—whether that’s through music, antics, or tweets like this that stir the pot just enough to get everybody talking again.
