NY Jets players call out Asante Samuel after embarrassing Twitter rant

The quickest way to upset NY Jets fans is to insult one of the team's most legendary and/or beloved players. Former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel found that out the hard when on Tuesday when he took unpromoted shots at not one, but two players that meet said criteria.

Samuel called out both Sauce Gardner and Darrelle Revis on Twitter in what proved to be one of the most bizarre, misguided, and downright embarrassing social media rants we've seen in quite some time.

Where do we even begin? Samuel initially put out two tweets suggesting that Gardner's rookie season wasn't as good as many have made it seem, insisting that the "New York media" overhyped him.

Samuel went on to claim that Seattle Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen "had a better rookie season," insisting that fans are "highly influenced by the media, not facts." Of course, there isn't anything factual about what Samuel said, but we'll get into that in a moment.

Samuel took it one step further, blaming the "New York media" again, this time for apparently overhyping Revis. According to Samuel, Revis never did anything that was "special."

Yes, he said this. Completely unprompted. Entirely inaccurate. Wholly embarrassing.

Asante Samuel got torn to shreds by NY Jets fans and players alike

Fans didn't take too kindly to Samuel's claims, and neither did Jets players. Gardner and Revis both shared responses to Samuel's cringey social media behavior.

Honestly, there are too many tweets and interactions to list here, so I highly suggest just checking out each player's timelines if you want the full picture. Here are some of the highlights, though.

Samuel continued to dig himself into a deeper hole. The basis of his argument was that Gardner may have been lockdown in coverage, but his "production" didn't match Woolen's.

What is this "production" Samuel speaks of, you might ask? According to the man himself, he's specifically referring to interceptions and pass breakups. In fact, Samuel specifically said that good coverage is not production. Those were his words. The words of a former NFL cornerback.

Obviously, this is faulty logic, but at least Samuel would have a case if he was consistent. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

When Gardner asked Samuel who he believes the best cornerback in the NFL is, Samuel replied that Patrick Surtain II was the best cornerback in football last season. While that's hardly an egregious take, it directly opposes Samuel's own logic.

Surtain recorded just two interceptions last season — the same as Gardner. He finished with only seven pass breakups. Gardner tallied 14.

Samuel insists that Woolen was better than Gardner because of his "production" but completely ignores said "production" when it comes to Surtain. His argument was completely invalidated once he said that (if it wasn't already).

Of course, Gardner was better than Woolen in pretty much every meaningful statistic last season. Not just better, but significantly better. Woolen wasn't even a borderline top-10 player at his position. Gardner was the best cornerback in football.

Gardner and Revis weren't the only Jets figures to clap back at Samuel on Twitter. The likes of D.J. Reed, John Franklin-Myers, and others came to their defense as well.

Asante Samuel has made an enemy out of Jets Twitter. He's made himself an enemy of the Jets organization. He's become a laughingstock and broke the cardinal sin of Twitter. You never want to be the main character.

Samuel perfectly embodies the infamous Dion Waiters quote. He would rather go for 0-for-30 than 0-for-9 because that means he stopped shooting. That means he lost confidence.

Samuel keeps shooting, and he keeps missing, but at least he's still confident. You can't take that away from him.