Former New Orleans Saints Ben Watson reacted to the backlash against Drew Brees following the QB’s initial comments that kneeling during the national anthem was “disrespecting the flag.”
“His [Brees] stance has been his stance for a very long time, but even within that there is some nuance,” the former NFL tight end and teammate of Brees shared on “The Story,” per Fox News in a piece published Tuesday.
“I think that right now, especially with what the country is going through, it is about how you phrase your statements and about empathy and listening,” he added. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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Watson continued, while explaining that “this is going to be one of those rallying cries for that team, especially.” (RELATED: Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct On Fire After Officers Evacuate Building Amid George Floyd Riots)
“But also around the league when you see people go through this kind of transformation of having certain convictions which are fine, but being able to speak to and to listen to the opinions in the views of others,” the NFL player shared.
Ben went on and explained that there while there was “nothing wrong” with the star QB’s comments “in and of itself,” “it’s about listening and feeling the tone of what is going on in the country.”
“We are here and people are protesting and really hurt, and struggling over years of injustice,” he added.
The professional athlete also explained that “we need to have differing views on things like this and still respect each other’s stance.”
Highlight: @readdanwrite asks @drewbrees what the star NFL quarterback thinks about “players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.”@drewbrees: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”
Full exchange: pic.twitter.com/MpCkFyOMed
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 3, 2020
It comes after Brees apologized multiple times last week following his comments that he “will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”