Browns running Isaiah Crowell is receiving backlash for a controversial image he shared to Instagram.

After the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men recently killed by police, various athletes have shared their thoughts through social media. Crowell, however, shared a graphic illustration of a police officer having his throat slit open by a hooded figure.

MORE: Ex-Cowboys RB Randle threatened to kill deputy

The caption on the image read, "Mood: They give polices all type of weapons and they continuously choose to kill us...#Weak." (Warning: The uncensored version of the image is graphic).

(Instagram) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/8a/88/isaiah-crowell-cop-image-071116jpg_z96mbgva3yn01unzacy3ui36c.jpg?t=-605231403&w=500&quality=80

The post was especially troubling considering five Dallas police officers were killed in an attack three days ago. Cleveland.com reports that Crowell had already put the image up before the attack.

Browns fans have taken to Twitter to condemn Crowell, who deleted the image rather quickly. He issued a formal apology Monday afternoon on his Instagram page.

"Last week was an emotional and difficult week as we saw extreme acts of violence against black men across our country as well as against police officers in Dallas," Crowell wrote. "I posted an image to Instagram in the midst of that emotion that I shouldn't have and immediately removed it. It was an extremely poor decision and I apologize for that mistake and for offending people.

"My values and beliefs do not match that image. I am outraged and upset by the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile along with so many others. I am also outraged and saddened by the attacks in Dallas and the deaths of the 5 honorable police officers (Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa) who were providing protection while trying to keep peace.

"We have to be better as a society, it's not about color, it's about what's right and wrong. I was very wrong in posting that image. Every single life matters, every death as a result of violence should be treated with equal outrage and penalty."

It's not clear exactly when the post went up. Cabot claims the post was before the Dallas ambush, but news outlets seem to indicate it was put up Monday afternoon. In any case, there's really no good time for images like the one Crowell put up.