President Donald Trump has targeted NFL players, painting many of them as unpatriotic, for well over a year now.
His latest move was to cancel the Philadelphia Eagles’ scheduled visit to the White House, using the anthem debate as his key talking point.
Not surprisingly this sparked some pretty intense reactions from some of the players on that Super Bowl-winning club.
Now the National Football League Players Association has issued a lengthy counter to the notion that players are unpatriotic — a counter that’s very much in line with what Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien discussed on Wednesday.
We support the great commitment to service that our players are demonstrating locally and around the world and want to recognize just a few of them.
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
13 Eagles players give back to the community: https://t.co/uaQ8WIzS0n
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
Green Beret and NFL Long Snapper @NateBoyer37 set out to create MVP (Merging Vets + Players) as a way to rewrite the narrative of what is too often the story for many veterans coming home. https://t.co/C1Xv26KX8l
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
In an effort to serve underprivileged countries, former NFL player @garybarnidge created American Football Without Barriers https://t.co/oAcAuWZ64I
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
Former NFL star @AnquanBoldin fights for justice for Corey Jones https://t.co/KbEkFcSNpk
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
.@JOEL9ONE, former NFL players & military combat veterans summit Mt. Kilimanjaro to bring clean water to East Africahttps://t.co/WcJobvZ3Wn
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
From Operation Second Chance to Athletes for Hope, Buffalo Bills players don’t just stick to sports. Here are the charities they support. https://t.co/YOS0JB26v6
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) June 7, 2018
Furthermore, as NFLPA assistant executive director of external affairs George Atallah pointed out, these many examples provided are “only a small sample size of the character of NFL players.”
This thread is important, but only a small sample size of the character of NFL players. Our union is made up of people who do incredible things. We need everyone's help to spread positive news and drown out the haters. https://t.co/s46JUx7GIL
— George Atallah (@GeorgeAtallah) June 7, 2018
Whatever your take on the anthem debate, these players clearly care about their fellow citizens and are doing a ton of work off the field to help them out.