Broncos head coach Vic Fangio sends mixed messages on George Floyd, racism in the NFL

More NFL coaches are addressing issues beyond the football field, and Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio was the latest to offer his thoughts

As NFL teams continue to prepare for the 2020 NFL season with team meetings, more and more coaches are addressing issues beyond the locker room and the gridiron. With citizens taking to the streets to address police brutality and systemic racism, NFL coaches are adding their voices to the discussion. Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn addressed the death of George Floyd while in police custody and more in a passionate interview with LZ Granderson of the Los Angeles Times, and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton took to social media to address the deaths of both George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio is the latest NFL head coach to address these issues, doing so during a press conference held with the media on Thursday afternoon. Fangio opened the availability with a lengthy statement on George Floyd as well as what other voices have resonated with him in the days since George Floyd died:

In addition to calling for the police officer who was seen on camera keeping his knee on George Floyd’s neck for minutes, even after bystanders and George Floyd himself pointed out that he was struggling to breathe, to be “punished to the fullest extent of the law for the crimes he has been charged with,” Fangio goes further, stating that the officer should be charged with “treason for failing to uphold the badge and the uniform he was entrusted with.”

The Broncos coach also stated how the words of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar struck him in the days since George Floyd’s death. In an opinion column published in the Los Angeles Times, the former Los Angeles Laker had some powerful words on race in America:

Yes, protests often are used as an excuse for some to take advantage, just as when fans celebrating a hometown sports team championship burn cars and destroy storefronts. I don’t want to see stores looted or even buildings burn. But African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years, choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer. Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.

Fangio also outlined how sports can be a uniting force in the weeks and months ahead, declaring that “[s]ports brings people together, and I look forward to the Broncos and the NFL leading that charge.”

The head coach also addressed the actions of one of his younger stars, safety Justin Simmons. The defensive star attended a protest in Florida, and addressed the crowd:

As Simmons put it, he and the protesters are fighting “for equality not superiority.”

Fangio during his press call spoke highly of his young safety, referring to him as a “great leader:”

Fangio also addressed issues of racism and discrimination during the conference, and has this to say on player activism and racism in the league:

Some will point to the Colin Kaepernick situation, and the fact that a talented quarterback is no longer in the league following his protest on these very issues, as a sign that racism and discrimination are still found within the NFL. Some might also point to the fact that in the NFL in 2020, there are just four coaches of color, and only three of them — Anthony Lynn of the Chargers, Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, and Brian Flores of the Dolphins — are black. Ron Rivera of the Redskins is the other coach of color, and that’s the lowest total in the last 17 years. This insistence that meritocracy rules the day in the NFL really doesn’t hold water at any level right now. That the league is trying desperately to amend and expand the Rooney Rule is a pretty good indicator just how far the NFL has to go.

But Fangio’s comments should be taken in their full context. The fact that he addressed these issues up front, and spoke of them openly with members of the media, is another sign that coaches are going to be more vocal about the larger systemic issues that are in place around the country. Issues that years, even months ago, coaches might have avoided for fear of causing that dreaded locker room “distraction.” People in other disciplines are pointing to the death of George Floyd as a potential tipping point, given the outrage on display across the country and across the world, and it seems NFL coaches are going to add their voices — and platforms — to the chorus.