Did Eric Reid & Malcolm Jenkins brawl about anthem protests before game?
Reid, a Kaepernick supporter, has called the Players Coalition, co-founded by Jenkins, an NFL-funded subversion group.
Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid and Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins exchanged heated words on the field during the coin flip Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. The moment became so intense that Reid had to be held back by teammates and ushered to the sideline.
According to USA Today, once he was back on the sideline, Reid had to be restrained from going after teammate Torrey Smith. He even seemed to remain upset at Jenkins after the game started; lingering near the Eagles sideline and appearing to mean-mug Jenkins after one play early in the first quarter.
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#Eagles Malcolm Jenkins and #Panthers Eric Reid had confrontation after the coin toss before the game started.
Reid had major concerns with Malcolm Jenkins' Players Coalition that raised nearly $100 million to causes considered important to African-American communities. pic.twitter.com/qBsfDr4yLi
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 21, 2018
What caused the on field confrontation between Jenkins and Reid remains unclear but football fans are more than aware that the two don’t meet eye to eye, most especially when to comes to protests during the national anthem.
Jenkins is a founding member of the Player’s Coalition, which Reid recently called a “NFL-funded subversion group.” He’s also been quite vocal publicly about Jenkins’ involvement in protests by NFL players during the anthem. Last year after Reid criticized Jenkins for working with the NFL and speaking on behalf of protesting NFL players without talking to them directly, Reid walked away from the NFL Players Coalition.
“(We’re not) satisfied with the structure of the Coalition or the communication that Malcolm has been having with the NFL on his own, speaking on behalf of protesting players,” Reid said.
Jenkins was left feeling some way about Reid’s comments at the time and responded by saying:
“They understood the entire scope of the plan. The last time we had conversations with (Roger) Goodell and Troy Vincent, Michael Thomas and Eric Reid were on that call. They understood the proposal. What we didn’t have was a conversation with players in the coalition based on some of the responses that we got from the league. We then talked about myself contracting Troy Vincent just to give them some updates on some of our feedback, which I did. That call did not have Mike or Eric on it. Everybody kind of agreed to that.”
Reid, who recently signed with the Panthers, was not signed by an NFL team for several months and he’s currently suing the league for collusion, SBNation reported.
Upon his return, he has continued to take a knee during the national anthem, while Jenkins has chosen not to protest this season. However, he reportedly continues to work with the NFL Players Coalition.
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