Brandon Marshall has not made a decision, but he has watched and he has listened. The Broncos linebacker, who took a knee during the national anthem for eight games last season to protest social injustice in the United States, said he’s encouraged by the resurgence of player protests during the preseason and is weighing whether he will join them.
“I think it makes a big difference,” he said Thursday. “Before I took a knee last year I decided that, OK, I don’t want to just take one, I want to put some actions behind it. So in my opinion, as long as everyone that’s doing it is out there actively doing something about it like (Colin Kaepernick), like me, like Malcolm (Jenkins), Michael Bennett. Marshawn Lynch does a lot in his community. As long as people are actually actively doing something while they’re protesting, I think it’s good and I think it could actually have a huge impact.”
Marshall believes the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., was a turning point for many players.
The day after the incident, the Seahawks’ Bennett sat for the anthem before a preseason game and later said the involvement of white players would make the movement more effective. Two white players — Philadelphia’s Chris Long and Seattle’s Justin Britt — subsequently placed their arm or hand on the shoulders of kneeling black teammates to show support.
But Cleveland tight end Seth DeValve was the first white player to take a knee.
“I think it’s huge,” Marshall said. “I’m not sure if he’s getting backlash, but I like his reasons behind it. He said he’s going to be raising kids that don’t look like him. He’s married to a black woman. So to see him do that, I think it’s great. It’ll be great for the cause.”
Marshall has not kneeled during the preseason. But he has remained vocal on social media about the protests, and about Kaepernick’s continued unemployment and activism. And Marshall has received many of the same responses.
“They say, ‘just play football. That’s what you do,’ ” he said. “They act like we’re football players 24/7, all day, every day just all about ball. I’m a human being. I have opinions. I have passions. I have things I would like to do. So I’m not just a football player, and I would encourage every athlete out there to find who you are outside the game as well, because at some point the game’s going to end and I just don’t want — one of my friends used to play for the Raiders and he said he kind of struggled initially because think about it, you play football so long. You’re a kid and that’s all you do, it’s all you want to do. And when you’re done, it’s like, ‘Aw, man. What’s next?’ So I’m glad that Kaep is finding who he is outside the game.”
Many, Marshall included, believe Kaepernick is being “blackballed” by the NFL owners, prompting hundreds to demonstrate outside the league’s New York headquarters on Wednesday in support of the former 49ers quarterback. The N.A.A.C.P. also requested to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss Kaepernick’s free agency.
The Broncos pursued Kaepernick in 2016 after Peyton Manning retired. But a deal was never made. And now Kaepernick may no longer be perceived as just a quarterback.
“I like that though,” Marshall said. “Because he’s much more than a quarterback. He’s an activist, he cares about the people. He’s much more than a quarterback and that doesn’t define him. I think more athletes need to understand — I think a lot of people struggle post-football, post-career with finding their identity because their identity is so ingrained in football. ‘I”m a football player.’ But we’re much more than that. This is just what we do. This is not who we are. There’s a difference in that, so I like that Kaep is doing this because this is who he is. It makes him feel good, he knows he’s making a difference and it’s almost like he sacrificed his career unintentionally for it. But in 10, 15 years, people are going to look back and say, ‘You know what, that’s a stand-up dude right there. Kaep, he’s a special individual. It’s just people don’t try to see it right now.
Marshall said potentially facing more backlash, as it did a year ago, hasn’t swayed him one way or the other in deciding whether to protest again.
“The backlash doesn’t bother me. At first it was overwhelming last year,” he said. “But you get used to it. You get over it. And you know that when you’re going against the grain, you can receive a lot of backlash.
“People aren’t scared of that anymore. They’re not scared of what the team might say or what the fans or people might say. And I think that’s how it should be. You should do what’s right, what you feel is right because of what you feel is right. And it’s not going to be popular all the time.”
Talk of player protests has led to a broader conversation about the playing of the anthem at sporting events and perceived double-standards among those not on the field. Asked why he believes players receive pushback, Marshall said it’s because players are public figures.
“We’re in the public spotlight,” he said. “You can actively see us and we’re supposed to be held to a higher standard, which we all should be held to the same standard,” he said. “Some people don’t even stand up in the stands…There are a lot of people who don’t do what they’re supposed to do during the anthem, but we get all the backlash because we’re in the public eye.”