I’ve had a lot of respect for Drew Brees over the years. He’s been a consistent football player. I’ve seen him grow into a great leader and furthermore, he’s been very charitable in his community. Whenever Drew retires, he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Just last season, he became the all-time leader in touchdown passes thrown surpassing another future Hall of Famer in Peyton Manning. Drew is in the news, but not for a good reason. Yesterday, he made a comment on video saying that he will never agree with anyone who disrespects the flag of the United States of America.
When Colin started kneeling, Drew made a comment then. Anyone can have an opinion, but the timing of his comments were wrong. These football players and other athletes who have knelt during the national anthem aren’t being disrespectful. As I said last week, it’s a peaceful protest. Nobody is lighting the flag on fire nor making a scene of anything. The purpose of kneeling is to bring awareness to social injustices in this country, period. Did he not see what happened to George Floyd? Or Ahmaud Arbery? Even Breonna Taylor? Again, this is why we knelt! These comments weren’t perceived well at all. Drew has received a lot of backlash for this as he should. Even some of his own teammates condemned him for what was said. Malcolm Jenkins was on video voicing his displeasure with the comments.
Drew issued an apology today. It was a lengthy paragraph posted on Instagram. Written statements have no tone so how do we know he was sincere? If he can state what he said on a video, he can issue his apology on video. I’m really interested to see how this will all unfold in the Saints locker room.