fbpx
Skip to main content

NFL Unlikely to Punish Rams Players for Pregame Ferguson Protest

Five St. Louis Rams players entered the field on Sunday prior to the team’s game against the Oakland Raiders using the “hands up, don’t shoot” pose that has started to define the protests going on in Ferguson, Missouri and around the United States.

Hours after these players took a stand in favor the protests that have heated up since former police officer Darren Wilson was not indicted in the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown last week, the St. Louis Police Officers Association demanded that the NFL or the Rams punish the players involved. 

In a strongly-worded press release, the group had this to say (in part).

The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization’s displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be.

The statement would later go on to suggest that protestors in Ferguson are thugs and not the type of individuals that buy NFL products.

As Turner Sports’ reporter Rachel Nichols indicated, the league will not discipline the players for making a statement prior to the Rams 52-0 win over Oakland on Sunday.

For once, the league is getting it right here. It simply can’t tell players that freedom of speech is not recognized within the NFL itself, especially when it comes to issues outside of the realm of sports.

That would have sent a horrible precedence for a league that’s trying to rebuild a public image that has been stomped on following its handling of both the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson situations.

More About: