Why Adrian Peterson Will Kneel for the Anthem
Adrian Peterson, arguably the greatest Oklahoma football player of all time and one of the best players in NFL history, has spoken: he will kneel during the national anthem.
Peterson, who rushed for 4,041 yards and nearly won the Heisman Trophy as a true freshman in 2004, was asked about it on Friday during an interview from his Houston gym while handing out food to low-income families.
Will he kneel?
“Yeah, without a doubt. Without a doubt, without a doubt. … We're all getting ready to take a knee together.”
Peterson, 35, is preparing for his 14th NFL season and his third with the Washington Redskins. He currently ranks fifth in NFL history with 14,216 rushing yards and fourth with 111 rushing touchdowns.
Peterson on Friday also tweeted about being an agent of change for building up black men in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
He said Friday that isn’t worried about reaction from the league or its fans or the president or anyone else for kneeling during the anthem.
“We’ve got to put the effort in as a group collectively,” he said. “Are they going to try to punish us all? If not playing football is going to help us save lives and change things, then that’s what it needs to be.”
In March, Peterson celebrated his birthday by donating $100,000 to charities in relief of the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2016, he donated $100,000 to relief efforts after flooding in his hometown of Palestine, Texas.
While taking a break from the event with Brothers Produce where he and his wife and family foundation handed out food and supplies to at-risk families from local schools, Peterson was asked about Colin Kaepernick’s 2015 stance against police violence in the black community, when he first sat during the playing of the pregame anthem, then met with Green Beret Nate Boyer and decided it would be more appropriate to kneel.
Kaepernick, who helped lead San Francisco to the Super Bowl after the 2013 season, hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016.
“It definitely has evolved for sure,” Peterson said. “You went from Kaepernick being banned from the league, and now you see so many guys coming together. It was an eye-opener then. So much has transpired since then.
“Just four years ago, you’re seeing Kaepernick taking a knee, and now we’re all getting ready to take a knee together going into this season, without a doubt.”
Peterson was also asked about his former Saints teammate Drew Brees, who said this week he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America” and then a day later apologized, acknowledged he was wrong and even admonished President Donald Trump’s view on the matter on social media.
“When I first seen it, I didn’t know what to think,” Peterson said of Brees’ comments.
“Once I seen the question that was asked, it was like he diverted and went straight to what he wasn’t going to participate in and what he stood for,” Peterson said. “I feel like I know Drew Brees. He’s not a racist at all, and I have a lot of love for him, but I think this was a situation where he should have … thought things out more and tried to look at things in a different view. Because I know he made a comment about what he thinks about his grandfather and his great-grandfather going to war, this, that and the other.
“My parents had great-grandparents that went to war as well, but when they came back, they still weren’t able to vote. We just didn’t have the same rights. So when you look at it from that point of view, we understand where you’re coming from, but we don’t understand where you’re coming from as well — for those reasons. We still don’t have equality here in the United States once they came back. Our people fought as well, and played a big role in the victory. You know, I love Drew. I have nothing but respect for him, but I think he should have thought about it a little longer.”
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