Following the evolution of the anthem-protests and what the NFL, teams, and players are planning to do in the upcoming season can be incredibly exhausting.
Everyday there is someone speaking out for or against kneeling, implementing a new rule and then freezing it, and team owners dictating their own policy.
But now one Philadelphia Eagles star is claiming that a big statement is coming on behalf of all the players that will be something major.
Malcolm Jenkins is the Philadelphia Eagles safety and one of the biggest instigators and Colin Kaepernick-defenders in this anthem-kneeling movement.
In fact, he’s arguably been the main catalyst that’s kept this whole anti-American thing going.
Spearheading the player’s coalition, Jenkins said on Tuesday that they will “probably” have an op-ed piece drop soon that will demonstrate the majority of players’ true feelings on the nationwide anthem-kneeling debate.
Just a little under two months ago, the NFL issued a new rule that would ban players from kneeling during our beloved National Anthem or face the consequence – that being a fine or a suspension, which would be up to commissioner Roger Goodell to decide the punishment.
They also shamelessly gave all players the option of staying in the locker room during the anthem, which is almost just as bad if you really think about it.
But when the Associated Press got their hands on a leaked amendment to the player conduct policy from the Miami Dolphins, the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to “freeze” the new rule until both sides could come to an agreement.
There really shouldn’t be an “agreement” because they’re employees, and in the United States, employees have to abide by the employer’s conduct policy.
But that’s not how players like Jenkins feels about this whole thing.
They think they’re more powerful because they have more leverage.
In fact, Jenkins thinks the whole issue would probably be non-existent right now if the league office had just left it alone.
Jenkins told Philly.com, “It would have moved to a point where we were working together to draw some awareness to these issues and put some more action to the effort to amplify what players are talking about. Talking out of both sides [of their mouth] on behalf of the owners has put players in a place where we don’t trust the league’s intentions, and we don’t trust the intentions of the owners.”
That distrust is pretty obvious to anybody who has been really paying attention to what’s been happening over the last several months.
It has become a dysfunctional mess amongst all sides, but the players are the ones who are being selfish about this whole thing.
They couldn’t care less about the franchises’ loss of revenue due to these protests so long as they keep getting their paychecks every week. They’re hypocrites.
Jenkins even audaciously added, “People are beginning to see this is bigger than just the two minutes of the national anthem.”
Of course he provides no proof of what he claims. He probably just thinks that’s the case, which isn’t surprising given his level of arrogance.
But we’ll see what the “major” statement says soon. Maybe all of the players will boycott playing until they’re allowed to kneel, or maybe it’s all just hot air.