Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow turned some heads recently by going public with a statement concerning the George Floyd protests.
The magnitude of Burrow’s statement is huge and to put it simply, he’s just an unproven rookie quarterback taking a stand. Impressive, to say the least.
But this is far from the first time Burrow has elected to use his platform for what he believes in — and he’s also made it clear in the past he’s just getting started.
Even in an older interview, Burrow has emphasized he’s ready to put his platform to use for a wide range of non-football issues:
Joe Burrow meant it. pic.twitter.com/HNX50obVX1
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) May 29, 2020
Burrow’s Heisman Trophy speech recently says it all. While accepting the award, the LSU star weaved off into talking about his hometown of Athens, Ohio:
“Coming from southeast Ohio, it’s a very impoverished area and the poverty rate is almost two times the national average. There’s so many people there that don’t have a lot. And I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here, too.”
It didn’t take overly long for a food pantry to raise around half a million dollars after the speech.
A reaction from Karin Bright, the president of the Athens County food pantry’s board, says it all, via NBC Sports’ Peter King: “…And for Joe Burrow to put such a personal face on it—his classmates at Athens, he knew, were going hungry. And he remembered that at this momentous time in his life.”
Burrow hasn’t been afraid to dive into his reasoning when it comes to taking a stance on items more important than the sport he plays:
On draft night, Joe Burrow was asked what his teammates would say makes him a good leader. Here's his response: pic.twitter.com/00UnG6Hgc2
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) May 29, 2020
After the money raised for the food pantry, Burrow noted he’s “trying to think of some more things that I can do,” per The Advocate.
To provide context, this wouldn’t be such a big deal if it happened more often. But the NFL and its team owners generally haven’t liked when players speak out. We’re a few days removed from the former NFL vice president of communications noting Colin Kaepernick wasn’t signed after his protests because “No teams wanted to sign a player — even one as talented as Kaepernick — whom they saw as controversial, and, therefore, bad for business.”
Given the environment, Burrow could have just as easily stayed silent. But instead, one of the new potential faces of the NFL put the platform to work.
And Burrow’s probably just getting started.
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