Malcolm Jenkins: NFL Should Apologize to Colin Kaepernick, Assign Him to a Team

Zac Wassink of YardBarker

New Orleans Saints players Drew Brees and Malcolm Jenkins both made headlines last week when speaking about players potentially kneeling during renditions of the national anthem following the killing of George Floyd.


Brees received criticism and scorn from individuals around the sports world when he said "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country." This led to Jenkins offering an emotional response to his teammate.

Brees has since repeatedly apologized.

On Friday, the NFL released a video in which commissioner Roger Goodell said "we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier" regarding racism and such peaceful protests sparked by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the anthem throughout the 2016 season but who has remained a free agent since the subsequent March.

Goodell didn't mention Kaepernick by name, but Jenkins did while speaking on CBS This Morning on Tuesday.

"I still don't think they got it right. Until they apologize specifically to Colin Kaepernick or assign him to a team, I don't think they will end up on the right side of history." — @MalcolmJenkins on Roger Goodell and the @NFL pic.twitter.com/mXlqLtuhBj

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 9, 2020

"I still don't think they've gotten it right," Jenkins said of Goodell's statement. "Until they apologize, specifically, to Colin Kaepernick, or assign him to a team, I don't think that they will end up on the right side of history.

"At the end of the day, they've listened to their players, they've donated money, they've created an Inspire Change platform. They've tried to do things up to this point. But it's been one player in particular that they have ignored and have not acknowledged, and that's Colin Kaepernick.

"That's the only thing people want to hear. If it's not going to correct that or acknowledge that, then everything else doesn't need to be said."

Jenkins, who won Super Bowl rings with the Saints and Philadelphia Eagles and who rejoined the Saints earlier this spring, also addressed his comments to Brees and explained he's spoken with the signal-caller.

"I think we are in that moment where we need truth before we can have reconciliation, and that was an opportunity for me to share my truth, not only to Drew Brees but to everybody who’s watching," Jenkins said.

While Kaepernick hasn't played a meaningful down since January 2017, the 32-year-old free agent reportedly is still in football shape and willing to resume his career.

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks recently told reporters he believes the league unofficially blackballed Kaepernick over the anthem protests.