Texans owner Bob McNair hasn't had a very good few months, what with his decision to refer to NFL players as "inmates" and then later sticking up for embattled and investigated Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. 

McNair apologized for his "inmates" comment, but now is walking that apology back, telling the Wall Street Journal he regrets apologizing in the first place.

"The main thing I regret is apologizing," McNair said. 

According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, McNair was referring not to players but to league executives and now believes, "I really didn't have anything to apologize for."

It is odd that he would apologize in the first place if he wasn't referring to players, although that was something he noted during the original apology.

McNair would later circle back and claim the comments were about league executives.

At the time, lots of NFL players were protesting peacefully by taking knees during the national anthem. It's been a controversial situation for the NFL over the last year or more. And when McNair said what he did, it was during a fever-pitch point with the NFL battling a PR war against President Donald Trump. 

Multiple Texans players, including star wideout DeAndre Hopkins, planned to walk out of practice in protest. Players from around the league ripped McNair publicly as a result of the comments. He was forced to meet with the team and explain his position; there still seemed to be tensions remaining among some players. 

Now McNair claims that the "inmates" remark is "common" in the business world but was apparently taken incorrectly by the general public. 

"In business, it's a common expression. But the general public doesn't understand it, perhaps," McNair now says.

It's worth noting that he's not wrong, although the comment he's referring to is more often known as "inmates running the asylum." Neither comment is ideal, because it either refers to people who work for you as crazy or prisoners. 

There are certainly negative implications when a white billionaire refers to a predominantly black group of football players who work for him as "inmates." That it's common does not necessarily make it OK to use. 

The bottom line with this particular angle of the story -- McNair continuing to acrimoniously point out he did nothing wrong -- is that it will likely cause players, and people in general, who disagreed with McNair from the beginning to disagree even more strongly. 

McNair might be best served to let sleeping dogs lie.