Nick Piccone
Malcolm Jenkins said on Friday during an appearance on WIP that he and a few teammates plan on doing something to bring attention to the social injustices in the world before Monday night’s game in Chicago, much like other professional athletes have done over the last month.
During his press conference on Saturday morning, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said he respected his players’ decisions and that if the players decide they want it to be a team thing, he’d be all for joining.
“Listen, I respect players’ decisions. Everybody has their right to protest or whatever they want to do. Malcolm and I have talked about this and it’s going to happen regardless of what I decide or say and I respect the players’ decisions on it.
…
“If it was team-wide, if they wanted to do something team-wide, I’d definitely be for that. I think it shows unity and there’s no division that way, and I think it sends a great message that from our standpoint, the National Football League, the platform and the individuals, we love this country and what it represents and the flag and the national anthem and everything. Listen, we’re not perfect, obviously, and for us to stand united that way, I’d go for that.”
Pederson said that he doesn’t think it’ll be a distraction.
“With their demonstrations and the things that have gone on league-wide, I really don’t think it’s been a distraction for teams. I know early on, when Colin [Kaepernick] did his thing, it might have been initially, the shock and awe of what happened. But I think now that everybody has sort of embraced it and knows that it’s going to happen, I think everybody is braced for it, so it won’t be a distraction.”
And he thinks Jenkins could be the perfect guy on this team to organize such a demonstration.
“Malcolm, he’s a class act all the way. He does a lot of things in the community here and he speaks out on a lot of things and he’s a great leader on this football team, and I appreciate him coming to me first and just letting me know. That’s always been my policy on things – open door and when guys come up I appreciate them coming to me.”
Jenkins said during his WIP appearance he still needs to talk to some of his teammates and decide whether it’ll be a joint thing or team-wide thing.
I’m not sure how I feel about this line, though: “Malcolm and I have talked about this and it’s going to happen regardless of what I decide or say.” Doesn’t that basically say the head coach has no say in that? So what are some other things he might have no say in when it comes to players’ decisions?
Ah, I’m probably just overanalyzing. It’s Saturday afternoon and I haven’t had my coffee yet. Watch Pederson’s presser below.