(NewsNation) — A public relations expert says Mark Sanchez’s career now faces a lot of questions after he was arrested in a stabbing incident last week.
“He’s not playing professional football now. He is an NFL analyst for Fox Sports,” Mike Paul, president of Reputation Doctor, told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield on Monday.
Sanchez had been in a hospital since the morning of Oct. 4, when he was allegedly stabbed by a truck driver in downtown Indianapolis. Sanchez was in town to call last weekend’s Indianapolis Colts-Las Vegas Raiders game for Fox Sports.
A lawsuit filed last week identified the man Sanchez allegedly fought as 69-year-old Perry Tole.
In the lawsuit, which named Sanchez and Fox Corporation as defendants, Tole and his attorneys alleged that Fox Sports “knew or should have known about Defendant Sanchez’s unfitness as an employee, propensity for drinking and/or harmful conduct.”
“What does Fox Sports now have to decide?” Paul added. “We know this is big business. And we know this is about sponsors who pay for a show like that. There’s a lot of different stakeholders that are involved.
“Are they comfortable with someone before he even deals with the court of law, reputationally for the NFL, for Fox Sports, for any sponsor who’s buying ads on these telecasts? Are they comfortable with this person representing them? That’s a big question.”
Age disparity in Mark Sanchez incident will become significant: PR expert
Paul noted that the disparity in age between Sanchez and Tole will play a major role in how the case is viewed by the public.
“That age difference, not only pulling him out of his truck, but when it comes to the fear, when it comes to a threat, that age disparity, one being 69 and one being 38 years old, a former professional quarterback in the NFL is going to become a big deal,” he said.
Other questions Paul pointed out that are likely to be asked: Why did Tole fear for his life? Why did he go for his pepper spray? Why did Tole have a knife to defend himself just in case?
Erin Campanaris, with whom Sanchez shares a son, told the New York Post that she wasn’t surprised by the former quarterback’s actions. Paul believes this could be another concern for Sanchez.
“Does she know more about challenges that Mark has had off of the field, out of the analyst box?” he questioned. “Has she had to deal with problems with his behavior, for example, as a mother? Has he had rage in the past that she might know about?”
Mark Sanchez speaks out for first time since incident
On Sunday, Sanchez spoke publicly for the first time after being discharged from an Indianapolis hospital.
“I’m just focused on my recovery, and I just want to thank the first responders, Eskanazi hospital, [the] Marion County Sheriff, and the Indianapolis Police Department, metro PD,” Sanchez exclusively told NewsNation affiliate WXIN.
“But I’m focused on my recovery, and I just want to see my wife, I want to see my son, my two baby girls.”
When asked by WXIN if he wanted to say anything to Perry Tole, he declined. Tole told police he stabbed Sanchez in self-defense, due to fearing for his life, after first trying to use pepper spray to ward off the former quarterback.