Roger Goodell Says He Wishes The NFL Listened To Colin Kaepernick When He First Took A Knee in 2016

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he wishes the NFL had listened to Colin Kaepernick about the issues regarding police brutality against Black people when he first took a knee in 2016.

Goodell was speaking to former NFL player Emmanuel Acho for his show ‘Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man’ when he said the NFL would have benefited from listening to Kaepernick instead of freezing him out.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“Well, the first thing I’d say is I wish we had listened earlier, Kap, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to,” he said in the interview.

“We had invited him in several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue,” Goodell added. “I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did. And we would’ve benefited from that, absolutely.”

Goodell also acknowledged that players kneeling during the National Anthem is “not about the flag,” adding that their actions are being “mischaracterized.”

“These are not people who are unpatriotic. They’re not disloyal. They’re not against our military,” Goodell said, echoing things Donald Trump has said. “In fact, many of those guys were in the military, and they’re a military family. And what they were trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. And that misrepresentation of who they were and what they were doing was the thing that really gnawed at me.”

This comes after Goodell, and the NFL released a video in June apologizing for not listening to their players who protested. Goodell told Acho that he hopes the death of George Floyd inspired everyone to do better in supporting Black lives.

“We should have listened sooner,” Goodell said. “And that’s where we should have been in there with them, understanding and figuring out what we can do as the NFL.”