clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Why LaMichael James insurance tweet was not aimed at the 49ers

Earlier this week, LaMichael James tweeted out he does not "work at State Farm" and is not insurance. Shortly thereafter, James deleted the tweet and denied it was aimed at the 49ers. We look at another possibility of what could have prompted the insurance metaphor.

By Steph McCarroll
USA TODAY Sports

LaMichael James has been the subject of some harsh criticism as of late. The criticism is related to a tweet made at 4:22 p.m. on Tuesday. Shortly after he tweeted, I took a screen-shot picture with my iPhone. I had a hunch it would be deleted, and I wondered what the media would do with it. Here is my screen-shot of the tweet.

Lmj_medium

Turns out, the tweet was deleted within minutes. Shortly thereafter, he tweeted this out.

In the few minutes after the initial "State Farm" tweet, James received some pretty awful tweets. Apparently, many believed he was referencing the fact he is "insurance" to the 49ers if Frank Gore or Kendall Hunter go down for any reason. While I can see the logical connection, we do not have enough context to decipher it as such.

Last year, Brandon Jacobs tweeted "Never work in a place where you hate your boss." The tweet about hating the boss was re-tweeted by LaMichael James. Some have resurrected the re-tweet from last year to somehow prove that he is unhappy with his place on the depth chart.

I suppose "State Farm" tweet could have been about football and him not seeing enough playing time. Yet, I have been following James on Twitter for a very long time. I watch a lot of Pac-12 football and was ecstatic when the 49ers drafted him. When I first signed up for Twitter, James was one of the first people I followed. James is a loud tweeter. He has one of the more colorful accounts. I am self-admittedly colloquially challenged, so half the things he tweets I find pretty insightful and super hysterical.

James tweets about a lot of topics, but one of his favorite subjects appears to be college football. He unequivocally supports his university and even his high school in Texas. He tweets a lot about keeping it "real doe" (note: Not a female deer. It's a variation of the word though) and "100" percent genuine. He interacts with his followers. He re-tweets a lot of fans, especially the girls with pretty avis. He watches a lot of sports and provides some clever narratives. But, truth be told, I cannot say I have ever seen James tweet about the 49ers' organization.

However, James routinely tweets about one other topic. If you follow him, you should know it. James often expresses his disdain for people who ask him for monetary handouts, especially when it comes from close friends and family members. Let me show you some examples.

Unfortunately, I could go on and on. These are tweets in the last 45-days or so. I only picked a few.

None of us know exactly what prompted James to use the insurance metaphor. Maybe it would've been better understood, if he said Bank of America. I am speculating, but perhaps a certain person routinely comes to him for coverage under so-called emergency situations? I do not know, but sadly I can think of several scenarios where an insurance metaphor could apply to his life.

Whatever the circumstance, it was a tweet. James followed up and stated it was not related to the team. I believe him. It is just as conceivable as accusing him of engaging in some type of cryptic attack on the 49ers or its coaches. It is easy to take a 160-or-less character tweet out of context. So, why did he delete it? Probably because it was misunderstood. Maybe it was a innocuous metaphor and did not want to go into it further? Maybe he realized he shouldn't have tweeted it in the first place?

And, who really knows why James retweeted Jacobs? I re-tweeted it also. I was not unhappy at work a year ago. I simply wanted others to see what Jacobs had tweeted.

I would rather give the man the benefit of the doubt than conjure up some fictional quarrel between James and the 49ers. Sure, it is reasonable to assume James wants more playing time. Who wouldn't want to see that motivation in a second year running back coming off an injury? However, it is more plausible he was referencing something personal in nature. Suggesting LaMichael James and the 49ers are in fisticuffs from one tweet is a stretch.

Next Up In San Francisco 49ers News