Tag: Eric Reid

Report: NFL will likely allow player protests during national anthem

A report suggests the NFL will likely allow player protests during the national anthem.

The winds of change are blowing through the NFL, furiously.

Now comes a report from Front Office Sports the league will likely allow players to protest during the national anthem. The nation is seeking change and the NFL apparently is listening intently to the call for unity and equality.

Michael McCarthy reports:

“We anticipate taking the same approach we’ve taken the last number of years,” the source told Front Office Sports. “No discipline will be enacted. No player has ever been fined.”

The league is working closely with the NFL Players Association on developing the anthem strategy for the upcoming 2020 season.

Of course, while no player has been fined, as the league says, the firestorm created by players taking knees has led to the exile of Colin Kaepernick and other players such as Kenny Stills battling management over his stance and eventually being traded from Miami.

The report follows a video by Commissioner Roger Goodell released Friday that acknowledged the league’s failure when it came to listening to players. Goodell said he encouraged players to speak out and protest peacefully.

The video led to a barb Sunday from President Donald Trump toward the NFL Commissioner.

It will be fascinating to watch how this plays out on the league and political platforms if players are given the green light to take a knee.

Eric Reid once again lays bare the NFL’s hypocrisy in now deleted Twitter thread

“You aren’t trying to change the system. You are the system,” Reid wrote.

NFL free agent Eric Reid has always been a vocal critic of the NFL‘s handling of issues of race. Reid, who took a knee with Colin Kaepernick when they were 49ers teammates, has never shied away from holding the league accountable, and has been especially vocal on his Twitter feed over the past week.

As NFL teams try to finesse their messaging in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Reid has consistently called out their vague and bland statements professing to care about black lives when they never supported Kaepernick’s protest.

A few days ago, during blackout Tuesday, Reid took individual teams to task for posting passive #blackoutTuesday squares and captioned them “Blackball Tuesday,” referring to Kaepernick’s essential blackballing from the league because of his decision to take a knee.

Late Thursday night, Reid hit the NFL harder after they posted another meaningless statement about their commitment to racial equality.

The NFL said they were committing $20 million more to social justice causes this year, but Reid was quick to point out that’s just a fraction of the revenue the league generates.

Where do I start? In your self reflection you chose to tell us that you donated .00275% of your 2019 revenue of roughly $16B to the causes you care so deeply for. Yet you have not denounced the police 4 their history of murder nor have you addressed your own oppressive constructs,” Reid tweeted.

In his next tweet, which again, has been deleted, Reid wrote:

In your self reflection, you didn’t come 2 the conclusion 2 apologize for your numerous attempts 2 subvert the very movement that you now claim 2 be a part of, including but not limited to: breaking your own protocols in an attempt to force us from kneeling and blackballing Colin

Again, Reid is clearly fed up with the NFL trying to project one image while doing basically the exact opposite.

In your self reflection, you didn’t feel the need to reconcile your aforementioned actions. You aren’t trying to change the system. You are the system.

He’s correct. The NFL is the system, and so far, they have done nothing but push out feel good PR statements that don’t address their past complicity in upholding systemic violence. The NFL, like every other league and brand out there, wants to co-opt a a movement to appease the market, but has yet to talk about the specifics of what they’re going to change in the wake of the Floyd killing. At least one group of NFL players are pushing for more specific change from the league, and it seems like that chorus is only going to grow.

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Panthers players share thoughts on George Floyd, social justice

Carolina Panthers players share thoughts on George Floyd, social justice.

Protests have erupted in cities across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd. A Minneapolis police officer has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. This issue of police violence against African Americans hits home for many NFL players and is the reason for Colin Kaepernick and former Panthers safety Eric Reid’s kneeling protests.

Reid was the most outspoken individual on the team but he’s no longer on the roster after being released in March. Other Carolina players are talking about Floyd and larger issues of social justice, though.

Here’s a roundup of what they’ve been tweeting.

LB Shaq Thompson

FS Tre Boston

WR Robby Anderson

CB Troy Pride Jr.

OL Branden Bowen

TE Cam Sutton

Former WR Torrey Smith

Former DE Julius Peppers

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Steve Kerr, Eric Reid join chorus calling out VP Mike Pence over protest tweet

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. How do you have the gall to say this?”

On Friday, as protests erupted around the country following the killing of George Floyd, Vice President Mike Pence sent out a tweet decrying the protests. But he followed it with a tweet that said, in part: “We will always stand for the right of Americans to peacefully protest and let their voices be heard.”

As many sports fans quickly pointed out, however, Pence had very memorably and very famously not stood for the right for Americans to peacefully protest, when he walked out of an NFL game in 2017 after players kneeled during the playing of the national anthem. In what was pretty clearly a publicity stunt, Pence had done the opposite of what he was now saying in a tweet he was committed to doing.

Sports fans called him out quickly, en masse. And now some bigger names have gotten involved.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called out Pence in a quote tweet, asking how he had “the gall” to say what he did.

NFL safety Eric Reid, currently a free agent, also called out Pence.

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Panthers paying out $11.5 million in deferred signing bonuses today

Panthers payingout $11.5 million in deferred signing bonuses today.

The Panthers are paying out $11.5 million in deferred signing bonuses today, according to Field Yates at ESPN.

Most of that money is going to linebacker Shaq Thompson, who signed a four-year contract extension in December. Thompson’s deal included $16 million in signing bonuses and he’ll be getting half of that total today. While we don’t know if Thompson or Tahir Whitehead will take over as the team’s new middle linebacker, it’s an investment in a player who’s going to be around for the foreseeable future.

The same can’t be said for the rest of today’s payments. Yates says former Carolina defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is getting a check for $2 million, stemming from the deal he signed last March. McCoy has already signed with the Cowboys, agreeing to a three-year, $18 million deal. Dontari Poe will be joining him there.

Former strong safety Eric Reid is also due a payment from the Panthers today, worth $1.5 million per Yates. In a surprise move, the team released Reid two weeks ago. While the move saved them $3 million in salary cap room, it added another $5 million to the dead money total.

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NFL’s CBA drama may not be over with new invalidation request

The new collective bargaining agreement approved two weeks ago is under fire over questions about language reportedly added after the vote.

Turns out the collective bargaining agreement saga of a few weeks ago may have something of an epilogue.

Safety Eric Reid, who was released by the Carolina Panthers two weeks ago, has enlisted a legal team to request an total invalidation of the new labor deal. A letter drafted by Reid’s lawyers and sent to the players’ union claims that the version proposed to players on March 5 includes language that differs from the final version, dated March 15. Reid and his attorneys are seeking a new vote on the CBA as well as an independent investigation looking into the document’s alterations.

Reid made his case public via his Twitter account on Monday morning.

As detailed by ProFootball Talk’s Mike Florio:

“The four-page letter dated March 30, 2020 and signed by Ben Meiselas and Ray Genco of Geragos & Geragos points to inconsistencies in Article 60, Section 4 from the March 5 version of the CBA and the March 15 version of the CBA. Article 60 contains rules regarding the NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan. The revisions from March 5 to March 15, when applied to the relevant language of the disability plan, allegedly modify offset rules claims from made on or after January 1, 2015 to claims made prior to January 1, 2015.”

The March 15 document does include new language. According to Florio, “the revisions make a significant change to eligibility for and/or amount of disability payments.”

Reid was among the outspoken critics of the CBA that passed by a fairly narrow margin- 60 votes out of nearly 2,000- on March 15.

“Even if a new vote were taken,” Florio points out, “the CBA likely would pass. At these uncertain times, the players likely won’t embrace further uncertainty in the form of a 2021 offer that may not be nearly as favorable as the offer they accepted, given current global public-health and economic circumstances.”

“The easiest fix, frankly, would be to make the March 5, 2020 version of the agreement the official CBA,” he suggests.

The league, for now, is moving forward with implementation of several key items from the new CBA; a conference call among team owners is set to take place on Tuesday. Four votes are expected to be held during that call, including one on the expanded postseason format as passed in the March 15 CBA.

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Could Justin Reid, Eric Reid team up in the Texans’ secondary?

The Carolina Panthers release of S Eric Reid puts him on the open market. Houston Texans S Justin Reid would favor a pairing up in the AFC South.

The Carolina Panthers announced Wednesday they will be releasing safety Eric Reid. The former Pro Bowler won’t be a part of the NFC South club’s plans as they rebuild under rookie coach Matt Rhule.

Reid took to Twitter to express his thanks to the Panthers fan base.

“It’s been a pleasure Carolina!” Reid wrote. “I enjoyed my time and the support I received from the fans, media, teammates, and staff there will be remembered. Looking forward to furthering my career in another city!”

Justin Reid, Eric’s younger brother and dynamic safety for the Houston Texans, retweeted his older brother and added a comment of his own.

“The Reid brothers in Houston,” with a couple emojis.

The likelihood of the pairing up is slim given the Texans have Tashaun Gipson and Eric Murray on the roster. While the latter fills the void left from Jahleel Addae’s contract not being renewed, there is a fourth spot that 38-year-old Mike Adams filled in his last professional season. However, Adams played in six games for Houston and started none of them. The elder Reid is still a viable defensive back with 16 starts in 2019 and 13 the year before that.

Carolina met the Texans in Week 4 last year at NRG Stadium. The Panthers escaped Houston with a 16-10 win with Kyle Allen filling in for Cam Newton. There

“It was just fun to watch him play,” Justin said after the game. “It was just fun for me to be able to play against [running back] Christian (McCaffrey) and then on the sideline I got to watch my big brother play, which was also just as exciting.

“So, we traded jerseys after the game and I’m sure at Thanksgiving or Christmas I’m going to hear about this one again, so he earned that. It was still a fun game.”

There will be at least one brothers battle on the Texans’ 2020 slate when Houston travels to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.

Eric Reid says he’s been released by the Panthers

The Panthers have released strong safety Eric Reid, who broke the news himself on his Twitter account moments ago.

The Panthers have released strong safety Eric Reid, who broke the news himself on his Twitter account moments ago. In a classy message, Reid thanked the fans, media, his teammates and the staff on his way out.

Reid still had two years left on his contract. According to Over the Cap, cutting Reid before June 1 will save the team $3 million in salary cap space for 2020 but add another $5 million to the dead money total, which has reached ludicrous proportions.

Reid was a first-round pick by the 49ers in the 2013 NFL draft. He was a Pro Bowler for them in his first season but he hasn’t been back since.

In 2019, Reid struggled in coverage and missed more tackles than usual. He claims he played through knee and ankle injuries most of the season.

The Panthers just signed free safety Tre Boston to a three-year extension. Now they’ll have to fill another hole in their defensive backfield.

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Panthers re-signing safety Tre Boston to 3-year deal

According to Adam Schefter at ESPN, the Panthers are re-signing free safety Tre Boston to a three-year deal worth $18 million.

According to Adam Schefter at ESPN, the Panthers are re-signing free safety Tre Boston to a three-year deal worth $18 million.

It’s a well-deserve deal for Boston, who was originally a fourth-round pick by Carolina in the 2014 NFL draft. After one-year stints with the Chargers and Cardinals, he returned to the Panthers in 2019, which was a strong season for him. Boston posted three interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

He should have at least a few more good years left in him. Boston will turn 28 in June. With Eric Reid still under contract, the Panthers have their starting safeties set for at least the next two seasons.

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Panthers players react to the new 10-year CBA on Twitter

Reid followed up with another tweet criticizing the cuts to disability benefits, which he called unconscionable and a broken promise.

The NFL and the players union have come to an agreement on a new CBA. The NFLPA has ratified it with a narrow 60-vote majority.

As you might expect, there are a lot of players who are unhappy, as some 48% of them voted against it. Panthers strong safety Eric Reid has been a vocal critic of the proposed CBA and he’s making his voice heard on the subject again now that the vote is over.

Here’s how Reid is reacting to the deal, again bringing up the cuts for disabled players and objecting strongly to the general economics of it.

Reid followed up with another tweet criticizing the cuts to disability benefits, which he called unconscionable and a broken promise.

Meanwhile, Reid’s partner in the defensive backfield had a very different take. Free safety Tre Boston said he respects players whether they voted yes or no but he doesn’t respect those who did not vote at all.

Boston also says people on both sides understand it wasn’t the best deal but some players felt they couldn’t afford to say no.

Former Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith (now retired) also chimed in on Twitter echoing Will Blackmon, who called out the 500 or so players who did not vote.

The new collective bargaining agreement will be in effect for the next 10 years.

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