What are the ramifications of Drew Brees’ comments on kneeling during the anthem?

Yahoo Sports Videos

June 5, 2020 at 12:26 AM

Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson and Terez Paylor discuss Drew Brees' comments reiterating that he's against players kneeling during the anthem and what the ramifications might be. Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Video Transcript

TEREZ PAYLOR: Let me rewind. On Tuesday, Saints star quarterback Drew Brees joined other celebrities in posting a black square on social media. He did it as a part of Blackout Tuesday, supporting ongoing protests against police brutality. And then the very next day, it turned quickly. Because he drew criticism when Yahoo Finance Daniel Roberts asked him how the NFL should respond if players began kneeling again during the anthem.

And Brees essentially repeated the comments he made in 2016 that criticized since-black-balled quarterback Colin Kaepernick, saying, quote, "I would never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America." And Charles, things popped off from there.

His black teammates were angry. Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Emmanuel Sanders, Malcolm Jenkins, they all said something on social media. They were pissed. More outrage came from across the league. Aaron Rodgers, Tyron Matthew, Richard Sherman, Edward Reed, LeBron James, the media, the works, I mean, this became a huge deal. And you hinted at it, Charles.

Here's why we heard from him, why there was so much vitriol. And I'm going to speak plainly here. Because we're a family, right? They believed that by conflating kneeling with disrespecting the flag, Brees invoked the US military in something that multiple, multiple black players have insisted, multiple times, has nothing to do with the anthem protest. Yet it keeps being brought up. And they don't think they're being heard.

And I wrote a column on this saying this. All of this points right at the heart of the disconnect that exists right here in America, man, between black Americans who support the kneeling and want to be heard and those who either haven't taken the time to understand the calls or simply disagree. And I think the last part's important, to be fair. I think is really important.

Because the First Amendment, freedom of speech, is critical in this country. We need it, OK? Because without it, you're giving people the ability, even those who are saying things you don't like, or that you consider to be wrong, the ability to do the same thing to you. And It'll keep escalating, and escalating until this country really does resemble something you don't recognize.

So free speech is important. And we need to all stand behind that, period. Now, Brees still issued an apology on Thursday for his comments. And in it, he said he stood "with the black community in the fight against systemic racial injustice and police brutality" and his "support of the creation of real policy change that will make a difference." But as you hinted at, man, he said a host of other things. But he also didn't address whether he still believes kneeling and peaceful protests during the anthem is wrong.

Now, a bunch of his teammates came out on Thursday and basically said they forgave him. Michael Thomas, Kamara, Terron Armstead, Demario Davis. But Charles, my question to you, can something like this flat go away when the season begins? I mean, you've been covering the league a long time. You know, you know the nature of a locker room.

I think it's interesting. Because as I wrote on Wednesday, I really believe this is something we're going to see play out across every locker room in America this fall. Because in opinion, I think there's a chance these guys start kneeling again. So where are you at on it, man? Do you think this is going to be something that we see play out across the league regularly?

CHARLES ROBINSON: I mean, I think guys are going to kneel again. Look, there's not even a question in my mind. And I think teams are prepared for that reality. I think this all comes down to, does the NFL repeat mistakes? You know, I just keep going back to 2017 and the league, kicking and screaming, tried to say we're on board with this. But we don't want this to happen. But we're on board with this. But we don't want this to happen.

It was such a mixed message. And you and I had conversations where it was like, you know what, if the league just said, hey, you know what, people are free to protest, if fans don't like it, that's unfortunate. But these are our players. These--

TEREZ PAYLOR: We're going to back them.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, this is their league. We are going to back them. And we are going to back the freedom to be heard. And we're going to move forward. And we're going to play games. And we're not going to try and stifle anything. We're not going to make people feel like we're squashing the voices.

And some fans will stick with us. Some won't. We'll pay that tax. We'll pay the free speech tax. And we'll pay the, I'm going to turn off the TV, tax. And we'll pay the political tax and all the other taxes that come with it, just like, frankly, all of us are paying a tax right now who refused to be quiet.

I mean, every single one of us who's opening their mouths about this right now has a segment of people who either follow them on Twitter, or that they know, or they have family members, or whatever, who are irritated, and don't want to hear it, or OK, whatever. I mean, that's just how it is.

TEREZ PAYLOR: The follower count had dropped, baby. That's what I'm talking about.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Oh, yeah.

TEREZ PAYLOR: The follower count had dropped.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Right, but I mean, at some point, I mean, I'm sure you experienced this, too. I'm sitting there. And I'm staring at my Twitter account. And I'm just like, I don't care. Look, I just care. Whatever, this is not--

TEREZ PAYLOR: This is real stuff.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Nothing is important enough to not express yourself right now, right?

TEREZ PAYLOR: Absolutely. Real stuff's going on in the world right now, you know? It just is. We have to acknowledge that.

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