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Plenty of NFL players who did not earn the right to play in Super Bowl LX were still able to take advantage of what San Francisco and the surrounding area had to offer when The Big Game came to town. That included 49ers defensive end Keion White, who is recovering from surgery after being shot in the ankle after he reportedly got into it with Lil Baby in the wake of the contest.
One of the many perks of being an NFL player is a collective bargaining agreement that allows you to purchase two tickets to the Super Bowl at face value each season (one that led to more than 100 people across the league landing in hot water last year after they were fined for abusing it by reselling the ones they secured).
You also have plenty of options when it comes to entertaining yourself when the Super Bowl rolls around, as players who don’t end up earning the right to play in it get some consolation prizes in the form of invites to the many ritzy parties and events that are thrown in the city that hosts the championship game each year.
Most of the guys who play for the 49ers didn’t have to travel very far to take advantage of those gatherings this season. That includes Keion White, the defensive end who headed to a club after the Seahawks beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LX only to end up in the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound following a reported altercation with a rapper who was performing there.
Lil Baby has been linked with the shooting of 49ers DE Keion White at a Super Bowl afterparty
There was no shortage of venues to pick from when it came to the afterparties that were organized in the wake of Super Bowl LX, and Dahlia, a nightclub in San Francisco’s Mission District, tried to lure people in with the promise of a performance from Lil Baby.
According to The San Francisco Standard, Keion White, the defensive end who recently wrapped up his first season with the 49ers after spending the first three years of his career in New England, was on the guest list for the main event but was not invited to attend the private party the rapper was holding in the basement.
A witness told police White and his entourage attempted to gain access to the area in the early hours of Monday morning before sparking a heated altercation with Lil Baby’s crew that led to four gunshots being fired, with one of those bullets ending up lodged in the DE’s ankle.
ESPN reports White was treated for “non-life-threatening injuries” at the scene before being taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery on Monday afternoon. The team described the procedure as a successful one, and it appears he’s expected to make a full recovery ahead of next season when you consider the injury he suffered is “not considered to be career-threatening.”
Police have not named any suspects when it came to determining who fired the shots, and White was reportedly “uncooperative” when he was questioned at the scene.
This is the second time a member of the 49ers has been shot in the city in the past couple of years, as Ricky Pearsall suffered a chest wound during a botched robbery ahead of his rookie season in 2024 before making his NFL debut less than two months later.