Friday, ESPN “First Take” moderator Molly Qerim ripped into the “audacity” of members of the NFL Players Coalition like Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and former wide receiver Anquan Boldin to accept a deal with the NFL to provide financial support to players’ community-activism while other members like San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid and Miami Dolphins safety Michael Thomas did not approve.
Qerim argued that since Kaepernick “sacrificed his career” for his protests and was ultimately left out of the agreement between the group of players and the league, the deal feels “a little dirty.”
Partial transcript from Qerim’s “Final Take” segment as follows:
What I really find unfortunate is how this has all ended. We kept asking what’s the end game for these protests. I’ll tell you what it is. The protests were potentially sold for $89 million. So let me get this straight, Kaepernick sacrificed his career, dreams and reputation fighting for social justice because he was shown he couldn’t do both — be an activist and be in the league. But in the end, the players coalition allegedly agrees to a deal with a price tag and Colin’s left out of it. Tell me that doesn’t feel a little dirty.
Everything in life cannot be bought. And instead, Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin did just that, making a deal “in good faith” with the NFL and in return, Jenkins will no longer protest. First of all, who makes deals in good faith? This is 2017. Get those specifics in writing.
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