The NFL held its league meetings last week and agreed on new rules to improve the game.
Changes included permanently implementing the kickoff rules set in 2018, a new penalty on blindside blocks in attempt to further reduce concussions and allowing league officials to eject players if referees on the field miss ejectable actions by players.
The NFL has made strides to improve player safety, but when will it begin to address the social issues it has within its organization?
Since Colin Kaepernick sparked a movement of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, the NFL has done an unacceptably bad job at addressing social issues such as racial tensions and domestic violence incidents.
Considering today’s political climate, it is surprising to me that the NFL has done little to nothing to combat the issues that have plagued the organization over the past few years.
Before the 2018 season, the NFL decided to shelf the issue of national anthem protests until this offseason and did not discipline players who decided to protest. The NFL reached a compromise of sorts in May 2018 which allowed players to remain in the locker room during the anthem, but players remained subject to fine if they kneeled on the field.
Technically this rule still stands, but the NFL decided not to enforce it during the 2018 season.
With this issue still unaddressed, the NFL has proven that it has no intention of changing its policies and will continue its useless efforts to silence players.
Where competing organizations such as the NBA have succeeded, the NFL has proven time and time again that its players’ right to protest is not a priority.
In all fairness, the efforts of heightened player safety in the NFL have proven effective. Concussion rates dropped 29 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.
However, despite the already evident damage the game does to its players’ physical and mental health, if it wasn’t for over $500 million worth of claims by former players over the past two years the NFL would’ve downplayed the issue just like it has with these anthem protest.
At this point, the NFL seems to be stalling to save its ratings over what should not even be an issue. For whatever reason, NFL owners have a huge problem with their players having any sort of voice, and until it starts losing them money the owners won’t look to fix this problem.
Now is the time for change in the NFL. The NFL needs to address these issues and end its efforts to silence players.
