A former NFL star is slamming the league for considering the rehiring of ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick is best known for taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem in protest because of racial injustices in the country. He has not played in the league since 2016.
Burgess Owens, who played 10 seasons in the National Football League for the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders, says, “If [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell allows Kaepernick to come back — if they allow players to kneel during the national anthem — I’m willing to not watch the game.” If the NFL were to rehire Kaepernick, it wouldn’t be because he’s qualified, Owens tells Sports Illustrated.
In fact, if the NFL continues down this road, ex-quarterback Tim Tebow should get his job back, he adds.
“It doesn’t matter how long he’s been out of the game,” Owens said. “It doesn’t matter his talent. He was a Christian who kneeled in prayer and was a positive on his team. The reason why Tim Tebow — as talented as he was with the Denver Broncos — the NFL didn’t like his essence,” Owens says, who is running for U.S. Congress in Utah.
“They thought he was too distracting, too distracting to his team and the organization.”
The protesting of the American flag is unacceptable, Owens says, and people should not be ashamed.
“We have too many Americans now accepting the notion that the flag should be a place where people should be ashamed of or take a knee, that’s what it comes down to,” he says. “I am disappointed that so many people are acquiescing today. They don’t understand the American way, they don’t understand the price paid.”
The NFL needs to understand that “we can’t be bullied and [also] that we’re not an evil country. There is no other country in the world with the mixing of races and tolerance. We have to change the current narrative.”
-Corine Gatti-Santillo