NFL needs to wake up after comments by Drew Brees
He never gave a name in 2017. Only that he was a 30-year Army veteran from Virginia, an African American man still on active duty. He was spending the day with his daughter and grandchildren strolling around the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
The place where a certain 200-year-old flag is displayed.
“I know the importance of defending our freedom,” he said. “I know the rights of the flag. I can understand those who might think (kneeling) is disrespecting the military. But it’s not like they’re kneeling on the flag. They are protesting peacefully to bring awareness to a certain point of view, which is a big part of what the flag stands for.”
This is what Drew Brees forgot. Or didn’t care to remember.
Brees is an eventual first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback for the New Orleans Saints who, when asked by Yahoo Finance about NFL players possibly taking a knee in protest during the 2020 season, said he would never agree with “anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”
It set off an inferno of anger from current and former NFL players who raged against Brees across all social media platforms. From some of his own teammates, no less.
Brees has the right to his opinion. About any issue he chooses. Never forget the part about not abridging freedom of speech.
But given the death of George Floyd at the hands (knee) of a Minneapolis policeman now charged with second-degree murder and how protests and looting turned so violent across the nation in response, the timing of Brees’ comments likened to opening a state-of-the-art mall during a recession.
Opinion mirrors league
That’s not the worst of it. Like so many still, Brees in taking such a stand suggested he didn’t understand what former NFL player Colin Kaepernick and those who followed were actually protesting when kneeling during the national anthem.
Which seems preposterous.
It would mean that at the time Kaepernick first took a knee in 2016 to now, Brees hasn’t spoken to teammates or others about what the protest was really about — to raise awareness for racism and police brutality.
More believable is that Brees’ view of things mirrors that of a league in which he has so historically succeeded.
I’m eagerly awaiting the NFL season for many reasons, in part to gauge reaction of the league and its owners when players again kneel during the national anthem.
Which you figure there is now like a 99.999 percent chance of occurring.
Will the NFL remain steadfast in the same beliefs that led to Kaepernick being blackballed or will it represent the statement it released after Floyd’s death? One supporting an urgent need for action and recognizing the power of its platform to continue the important work of addressing such systemic issues.
Has the NFL as a whole progressed like Raiders owner Mark Davis, whose passionate words regarding Floyd signified a turnabout from when Davis asked his players in 2016 not to protest when in uniform?
Or will the league remain its old, tired, hypocritical self?
We all own the right to peaceably assemble and encourage a patriotic agenda.
But the two aren’t always the same. In this instance, they’re not close to being so.
Brees released what read an incredibly sincere apology Thursday, in which he stated that he had “completely missed the mark” with his original comments.
Think of a swing pass being thrown 50 yards out of bounds.
Bigger than Brees
But don’t confuse Brees as the central problem to those injustices against which Kaepernick protested.
It’s much bigger than any one person.
Brees had every right to his opinion. It’s just that his timing was awful, and he forgot or didn’t care to mention the main principle of which kneeling represented.
One who understood it was a 30-year Army veteran strolling around the National Museum of American History in 2017, the same day the Raiders played Washington.
“There are far worse ways for players to express themselves,” he said. “On one hand, we say athletes are role models and should be held to high standards. On the other, when they try and speak up for what they believe, people say they shouldn’t. We seem to pick and choose when things like this are right.”
It long has been the way of the NFL.
Forget talking. Start acting.
Let’s see if the league and players such as Brees can evolve as time moves forward.
Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.