Houston Texans won’t sign players who took a knee like Colin Kaepernick
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The Houston Texans are knee-deep in trouble after rumors surfaced about how they were choosing to select their players.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the Texans are not in interested in acquiring any players during the forthcoming trade who participated in the kneeling protest sparked by former San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick.
“There is no directive within the organization, but it is considered to be understood that as desperate as the Texans are to bring in talent, the pool of potential signees and draftees will not include anyone who has participated in protests or are likely to,” wrote Jerome Solomon.
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Solomon insists that he is not simply speculating but has received word of this tactic by two NFL agents this week alone.
The protest against police brutality was sparked by a silent protest began by Colin Kapaernick. Despite being a highly skilled quarterback he has yet to sign with another team since becoming a free agent in the midst of the firestorm.
Kaepernick has said of the silent protest, “I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed.”
The Houston Texans have since released a statement calling the reported rumor “categorically false and without merit.”
Mired in controversy
There are many factors that would lead people to believe the Chronicle’s reporting.
The owner of the Houston Texans is the one and only Bob McNair, a man who infamously referred to NFL players last year as “inmates” last year.
“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair said during a closed door meeting, according to ESPN. The others in the room were reportedly stunned by the phrase, though it was not until after the article was published that McNair issued an apology, saying that his comments had simply been “a figure of a speech.”
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“I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players,” the statement read. “I could never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it.”
“This is how you view us?” All-Pro left tackle Duane Brown said after practice. “You’re an inmate. We can’t let you get out of line. We can’t let you speak for yourself. We can’t let you have your own beliefs. That’s what it feels like, it’s a bad situation.”
In response to McNair’s comments, nearly every single member of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem on Sunday, October 29 before the game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Colin Kaepernick moves forward
This past February, Colin Kaepernick expanded his deposition list in his ongoing grievance case against the NFL.
The deposition list is part of a grievance case filed by Kaepernick against the NFL which claims that the NFL blacklisted him after he spearheaded the national anthem protests that have since swept the nation. Kaepernick has not been picked up by another NFL team since leaving the 49ers, and he believes that the league is colluding against him to keep him out of the sport.
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Yahoo Sports cited sources with knowledge of the case saying that the list now includes Jane Goodell, the wife of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Jane Goodell was included after a report in October by the Wall Street Journal found that she had used a Twitter account under the name “Jones Smith” in which she defended her husband against criticism.
Jane Goodell admitted to creating the account and said that she had only been trying to defend her husband against inaccurate reports.
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“It was a REALLY silly thing to do and done out of frustration – and love,” Jane Goodell told the Wall Street Journal. “As a former media member, I’m always bothered when the coverage doesn’t provide a complete an accurate picture of a story. I’m also a wife and a mom. I have always passionately defended the hard-working guy I love – and I always will. I just may not use Twitter to do so in the future!”
According to Yahoo Sports, the other people on the deposition list include the following: Three NFL owners (Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft and Houston Texans’ Bob McNair); two head coaches (Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh and Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll); two general managers (Ravens’ Ozzie Newsome and Seahawks’ John Schneider); and two NFL executives (Executive Vice President of Operations Troy Vincent and Senior Vice President of Player Engagement Arthur McAfee).
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