Former 49ers Safety Eric Reid is scheduled to visit the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency. The former 1st round pick was one of the first players to join Colin Kaepernick in the protest against police brutality and systemic oppression during the national anthem. Reid has remained one of the vocal players who has continued to be outspoken regarding the issues that minorities in the country face.
Reid has mentioned that he will not protest during the national anthem and will find other ways to be active in his community. ESPN reported Reid saying:
“I’m not saying I’m going to stop being active because I won’t,” Reid said during Stanford’s Pro Day, which he attended in support of his brother Justin, an NFL draft prospect. “I’m just going to consider different ways to be active, different ways to bring awareness to the issues of this country and improve on the issues happening in this country.
“I don’t think it will be in the form of protesting during the anthem. I say ‘during’ because it’s crazy that the narrative changed to we were ‘protesting the anthem,’ and that wasn’t the case.”
He has been a solid player for the 49ers and he believes that the protests have played a part into why he remains unsigned. Bengals were the 25th rank defense against the pass in 2017. Reid has had 10 career interceptions and 36 passes defended in 70 career games with the 49ers. He should help the secondary improve on defending the pass and creating turnovers.
The Bengals have not had any players kneel during the national anthem but instead chose to stand together as a team with locked arms during the national anthem prior to playing the Packers. ESPN reported Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis :
“Our guys have been excellent in this situation,” Lewis told reporters at the owners’ meetings. in March “Because we are about playing football. They have other agendas, this is not the place to be. On Sunday for us and throughout the week in the building, it’s about football. That’s how I’ve approached it.”
Hopefully Lewis and the Bengals don’t see Reid community involvement and activism as an other agenda that would get in the way of playing football on Sundays.