Secret recording reveals how NFL owners wanted to keep Colin Kaepernick sidelined
Details of a secret meeting in October between NFL owners and a few key players were released by The New York Times and outline the fallout over protests during the national anthem.
The rare meeting was supposed to be confidential, but the New York Times got hold of a recording with released insight into the NFL’s next play concerning Colin Kaepernick and how they plan to deal with their biggest detractor, President Donald Trump. The meeting was set up to find a way to unify the NFL owners and players after players pushed a social justice agenda on the field by taking a knee during the National Anthem. The protests proved problematic for the league and made them a target of President Trumps Twitter tirades.
—Given this judge’s harsh ruling Kanye West shouldn’t go to this place wearing his MAGA hat—
“Let’s make sure that we keep this confidential,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said to begin the session.
But that didn’t happen.
Here are the highlights:
In the three-hour meeting, it was clear that solidarity was there and the players were caping for Kaepernick.
“If he was on a roster right now, all this negativeness and divisiveness could be turned into a positive,” Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long said at the meeting.
But New England Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft noted a persistent problem for them.
“This kneeling,” he said.
“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said Kraft, who is a longtime supporter of Mr. Trump’s. “It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said:
“We’ve got to be careful not to be baited by Trump or whomever else,” Lurie said. “We have to find a way to not be divided and not get baited.”
Behind closed doors, Trump apparently seems like the biggest issue for the league. The owners seem woke-ish but unwilling to step on Trump’s toes for fear of retaliation.
Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula sounded off saying:
“All Donald needs to do is to start to do this again,” Pegula said. “We need some kind of immediate plan because of what’s going on in society. All of us now, we need to put a Band-Aid on what’s going on in the country.”
But Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan doesn’t think Trump can do much more to hurt the league.
“All the damage Trump’s going to do is done,” he said.
On Kaepernick
Eric Reid, Kaepernick’s former teammate and the first player to kneel alongside him, brought up the issues surrounding his teammate who is still shut out and blackballed by the league.
“I feel like he was hung out to dry,” Reid said of Kaepernick. “Everyone in here is talking about how much they support us.” The room fell quiet. “Nobody stepped up and said we support Colin’s right to do this. We all let him become Public Enemy No. 1 in this country, and he still doesn’t have a job.”
They also discussed having a famous spokesman for the players.
“For years we’ve watched the National Rifle Association use Charlton Heston as a figurehead,” Pegula said. “We need a spokesman. For us to have a face, as an African-American, at least a face that could be in the media,” Pegula continued, “we could fall in behind that.”
Anquan Boldin said owners need to take up the cause and speak out too saying: “Letting people know it’s not just the players that care about these issues, but the owners, too,” said Boldin a former N.F.L. wide receiver who was at the meeting.
The meeting was well received by the players and owners and they released a joint statement:
“Today owners and players had a productive meeting focused on how we can work together to promote positive social change and address inequality in our communities. NFL executives and owners joined NFLPA executives and player leaders to review and discuss plans to utilize our platform to promote equality and effectuate positive change. We agreed that these are common issues and pledged to meet again to continue this work together.”
