Eagles

Rodney McLeod Expects Eagles Will Demonstrate for Social Justice Before 2020 Games

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 12th, 2020 · 9:52 AM EDT

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The Eagles’ response to the Colin Kaepernick protest didn’t involve kneeling, though a number of the players did raise a fist in support of the former San Francisco quarterback’s demonstration regarding social and racial injustice.

Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long were two of the involved Eagles players, who are no longer with the team, but free safety Rodney McLeod told ESPN”s Tim McManus in a recent interview that he expects the Birds to participate in some way, shape, or form this year:

Safety Rodney McLeod believes he and the majority of the Eagles team will demonstrate for social justice pregame in 2020. pic.twitter.com/TpmZOUcgtV

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) June 12, 2020

Full transcription here, beginning with T-Mac asking McLeod if he’ll demonstrate:

McLeod: I think I will. I have not decided on what that looks like. I think I will in some capacity.

McManus: Do you have a sense that a majority of the team is going to join you?

McLeod: I would believe so. I think it’s important for us to continue this and not let this pass us by. So let’s take the right steps, and that means committing ourselves throughout the 2020 season and further until we get change.

Somewhat vague, but the interesting thing to me is that Malcolm Jenkins was sort of the de facto leader of the Eagles demonstration over the years, which ultimately resulted in a clash with Eric Reid, who got in his face and called him a “neo-colonialist” when they met on the field. Reid basically felt like Jenkins was selling out by agreeing to accept money from the NFL for social justice causes, because he wanted to continue Kaepernick’s protest instead. There was a public and messy split in the ranks of the players coalition back then.

Seems like McLeod might be the guy leading the demonstration this year, so we’ll see how it unfolds.