The San Francisco 49ers quarterback copped widespread criticism from players and fans, but also support from others, when he refused to stand during the “Star-Spangled Banner” during Friday night’s preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.
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Kelly said the swirling drama around Kaepernick’s protest hasn’t hindered the team as it prepares for the new season despite an increased media attention since Kaepernick’s stance became public on Saturday.
Kaepernick’s protest has drawn reaction from around the world from athletes, politicians and others.
“I’m pretty big into the military so I’ve been getting a lot of tweets from my military guys that have lost both legs and they would love to stand up for what’s changed their lives”.
One of the loudest criticisms of Kaepernick’s protest from fans, media, current and former National Football League players and many others has him accused of disrespecting US veterans and current serving members of the armed forces by sitting during the anthem, something the National Football League star has said was not his intention. “That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards”, Kaepernick said.
I asked Kelly, is Kaepernick now one of the team’s best two QBs? “He s within his rights and he s telling the truth as he sees it”, Brown said on the NFL Network. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
“I think everybody has had their say on it”, Clemens replied.
Maybe Colin Kaepernick should do something with his money and talent that improves our country instead of riding the bench during the National Anthem. I understand his point of view, but I don’t think that was the right arena to do so. “As we said all along, we recognize his right to express his feelings, but that doesn’t affect what we do from when we get here at 8:15 in the morning and leave at 8 o’clock at night”.
If you want to believe Kelly is subtly shifting responsibility on this hot-button decision to the front office, that’s a fair conclusion.
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The 49ers are weird, have been weird for a while, and will assuredly remain weird for the foreseeable future.
