Matthew Stafford was the first of the Detroit Lions players to hold a formal press conference with the media, via a Zoom session. The Lions longtime quarterback and offensive leader pulled no punches in discussing why the players unified to cancel practice to show support for social justice issues and the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“Football was the last thing on our minds,” Stafford said when asked about why the Lions players, with the support of the coaching staff, did not practice on Tuesday.
Stafford was proud to speak out on behalf of social justice issues.
“Been a lot of days in my life I’ve been proud to be a Detroit Lion… but probably never more of an offseason or of a day than today that I’ve been proud to be a part of this team,” Stafford said.
Stafford and his wife, Kelly, recently donated $1.5 million to the University of Georgia’s new social justice initiative. It’s clearly an issue he is passionate about and willing to put ahead of football with his teammates’ unified support.
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