When in doubt throw some money at it.
NFL doesn’t want players protesting and it looks like they have a couple of players willing to switch sides if the dollar amount is large enough.
ESPN reported the NFL submitted to players the final draft of a proposal in which the league would contribute nearly $100 million to causes that are important to players in the coalition. Jenkins called it “encouraging” and said he would consider ending his protest if the NFL followed through on its plan.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Eric Reid says he left The Players Coalition because founder Malcolm Jenkins excluded Colin Kaepernick from meetings, and asked players if they would stop protesting the anthem if the NFL made a charitable donation to causes they support.
“Malcolm did text me this morning asking if we would be comfortable ending our demonstrations if the NFL made a donation,” Reid said Wednesday. “At that point, that was the last straw for me. He had a conversation with the NFL. We agreed that multiple people would be part of the conversations with the league so it just wouldn’t be him. He didn’t stand by his word on that. At no point did we ever communicate an agreement with the NFL to end the protest.”
Reid and Miami Dolphins safety Michael Thomas both sent tweets Wednesday morning saying they were leaving the coalition because they didn’t believe Jenkins and former receiver Anquan Boldin, a co-founder, shared their same interests.
“I haven’t been satisfied with the structure of the coalition or the communication Malcolm has been having with the NFL on his own, speaking on behalf of protesting players when he doesn’t protest,” Reid said, referring to Jenkins raising his fist instead of kneeling during the anthem. “We communicated these concerns to him numerous times and have had numerous phone calls about it. Our concerns haven’t been reflected with how the organization is being run, so I felt like I needed to make a departure from it.”
Divide and conquer has been a strategy that has been used for centuries.