The NFL has recently become an unmitigated disaster.
Anthem-kneeling players have created a huge headache for the league’s front office and team owners.
The NFL finally implemented a new league-wide rule that prohibits players from kneeling during the anthem. And one of the league’s most outspoken players chimed in on the NFL’s new rule, proving they just don’t get why fans are so upset.
Since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first kneeled for the anthem two years ago, the NFL has been trying to keep these anti-American players happy while also trying to win back their fan base.
That’s when they came up with a new policy to require players to stand or stay in the locker room during the anthem – otherwise they’ll face hefty fines for protesting.
And this is what Philadelphia Eagles Malcolm Jenkins – one of the players who has spearheaded this conflict since Kaepernick found himself jobless – told ESPN’s Get Up about the new rule:
“It kinda undermines everything you thought you were working for. It thwarts that right to speak your mind and really fight for your communities … especially because we felt like they understood where we were coming from.
We grabbed the league’s hand and showed them exactly the issues that we’ve been fighting for — that it was about creating a fair justice system, that is about ending mass incarceration, re-reconciling our relationships with law enforcement.
They have seen the work we have done for two years first-hand. And so, I think out of fear and to balance, you know, I guess both sides and play the middle, they put in this policy. And I think, like I said, it really backfired.”
This new policy has been met with divisiveness from both sides. In fact, the NFL’s solution has only created more problems.
Anti-American athletes feel like this new rule is a violation of their 1st Amendment rights, and it’s angered patriotic NFL fans who feel that staying in the locker room is a complete cop-out.
Around October of last year, the NFL offered these players a $90 million commitment to fund social justice causes of their choice.
The players were reportedly divided on this issue because it was basically a bribe to keep them from kneeling.
What they don’t get is that people have no problem with these players helping their communities in their free time, but protesting before the game is the wrong place to use their platform to condescend to hardworking Americans.