Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley and Michael Thomas are among more than a dozen NFL stars who united to send a passionate video message to the league about racial inequality.
The 70-second video was released on social media platforms Thursday night and includes Odell Beckham Jr., Deshaun Watson, Ezekiel Elliott, Jamal Adams, Jarvis Landry, Stephon Gilmore and DeAndre Hopkins, among others.
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— Jarvis Juice Landry (@God_Son80) June 5, 2020
Thomas, the New Orleans Saints wide receiver who has led the league in receptions the past two seasons, was a key organizer of the video effort, sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Thomas, who appeared to take a shot a teammate Drew Brees in a tweet after the quarterback’s comments on disrespecting the flag, later tweeted that he had accepted Brees’ apology, adding “Now back to the movement!”
Thomas opens the video with the statement: “It’s been 10 days since George Floyd was brutally murdered.” The players then take turns asking the question, “What if I was George Floyd?”
The players then name several of the black men and women who have recently been killed, including Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Eric Garner.
“I AM George Floyd,” Hopkins says.
The Dallas Cowboys will place retired center Travis Frederick on the reserve/retired list on Thursday, freeing up $7 million in salary-cap space.
Frederick announced his retirement in March, but the Cowboys opted to keep him on their active roster until now in order to be able to spread the salary-cap hit over the next two seasons. He was set to count $11.975 million against the cap in 2020 but will now count $4.975 million this year and $6.06 million in 2021.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Cowboys have a little more than $11 million in cap room, but they have not signed any of their draft picks.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Luke Kuechly is considering a front-office job as a pro scout, the team said Wednesday.
Kuechly, 29, surprisingly retired in January, saying he wasn’t sure if he could play as “fast, physical and strong” as he did during his eight NFL seasons that included seven Pro Bowl selections and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2013.
He didn’t explain why he wouldn’t be able to play at the level to which he was accustomed, but Kuechly missed seven games from 2013 to ’17 because of concussions.
The Los Angeles Chargers’ Anthony Lynn wants to do more than make a statement.
Lynn — one of four non-white coaches in the NFL — is feeling frozen by last week’s death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody and the ensuing protests that have swept across the United States, telling the Los Angeles Times that he isn’t sure what the next step is, though.
“I haven’t done anything to make this a better place for my son,” Lynn told the newspaper on Monday. “I remember having the talk with him when he was 16 about how to handle police, and then at age 30, I called him up and just had the talk with him again because I’m so scared. I want to do something, but to be honest with you, I don’t know what that is.”
Lynn expressed his shock at the death of Floyd, who died May 25 after police offer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. But the Chargers coach said he was more dismayed by the three police officers who did not intervene.
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“You can’t just stand on the sidelines and just watch. You got to say something, man,” Lynn told the Times. “The thing that bothered me the most about (the) George Floyd murder was the three officers that said nothing. The guy who did it, yeah, he’s a (expletive), but the three who stood by and did absolutely nothing … I’m just stunned by that. I see that going on in every organization. I see good people saying nothing and doing nothing, allowing this to happen.”
Lynn said his first attempt to do more was to take part in a protest at Huntington Beach. He said his initial feeling that he was “marching for the right reasons” was diminished when he spoke to a protest leader and discovered the lack of a long-term strategy.
“The protest was there to help people express themselves, but there was no endgame, no plan,” Lynn said. “All of the sacrifice and protest, I wanted to know at the end of this, if something was going to be done. I don’t want to be doing this again 20 years from now, and so I’m looking for ways to sit at the table and have a conversation about this broken system.”
Lynn also discussed Colin Kaepernick’s attempt to bring awareness to issues of police brutality and racial inequality four years ago. Lynn said the message from the quarterback’s decision to kneel during the national anthem was lost — whether intentionally or not.
The Chargers coach also said it was tough for him as an African American to see Kaepernick not given a shot to continue to play in the NFL.
“I know when you look at 32 quarterbacks in the National Football League, Colin could have been one of the 32,” Lynn told the newspaper. “If not, he could have been a quality backup. For me being an African American head coach, this is tough.”