Broncos head coach Vic Fangio says that the death of George Floyd is more of a “societal issue,” that everyone will have to work to figure out. However, as for the NFL, he sees a “league of meritocracy” and “doesn’t see racism.”
“I think our problems in the NFL along those lines are minimal. We’re a league of meritocracy, you earn what you get, you get what you earn. I don’t see racism at all in the NFL, I don’t see discrimination in the NFL,” Fangio told the press. “We all live together, joined as one, for one common goal, and we all intermingle and mix tremendously. If society reflected an NFL team, we’d all be great.”
Fangio addressed the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who dies after a police officer failed to move his knee off Floyd’s neck during an arrest, at the beginning of the press conference.
“I was shocked, sad and angry when I saw what the policeman do to a handcuffed George Floyd on his stomach that led to his death,” Fangio said. “He should be punished to the full extent of the law of the crimes he was charged with in addition to being charged with treason for failing to uphold the badge and uniform he was entrusted with … It’s a societal issue that we all have to join in to correct.”
According to ESPN:
Fangio has publicly supported the Rooney Rule in the past, which is designed to increase the number of minority candidates interviewed for head-coaching jobs, and the league is trying to expand the rule’s scope, but his ‘no racism’ comments Tuesday brought reaction on social media. Some of the responses noted that Colin Kaepernick has remained unsigned since protesting in 2016 about the excessive use of force by police and social injustice.
Fangio has celebrated his players for taking part in the protests in response to the death of George Floyd. Fangio specifically mentioned Broncos safety Justin Simmons who took part in a protest in Florida.
“I thought it was great, Justin is a great person, a great leader, got his head screwed on correctly, he sees the problems and how they need to be solved,” Fangio said. “He’s searching for solutions and it’s easy for everybody to identify the problems … we need to search for solutions and I think Justin is one of those guys who will find solutions.”
The Broncos attempted to trade for Kaepernick before he launched his protest movement in the preseason of 2016. However, part of the trade would have required Kaepernick to take a significant pay cut and the deal fell apart.
Fangio is going into his second season as head coach of the Broncos.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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