The NFL and a group of player representatives headed by Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin reached an agreement Wednesday night on a deal for league financial support of players’ community-activism pursuits, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
The Players Coalition, headed by Jenkins and Boldin, had been in discussions with the league for weeks as several players continued protests during the national anthem. According to Maske, this agreement does not address the ongoing protests directly, though the league clearly hopes the financial support of the league for these endeavors will help convince the players that are protesting to stand voluntarily.
The deal calls for the league and teams to commit $90 million to $100 million toward caused deemed important by the players with a focus on African-American communities. The agreement will run from its inception to 2o23. It will need final approval from team owners to go into effect.
However, the agreement probably won’t end the protests. Eric Reid of the San Francisco 49ers and Michael Thomas of the Miami Dolphins announced they were splitting from the Jenkins/Boldin group because they felt it no longer spoke on their behalf. Just because an agreement has been reached with one group doesn’t necessarily mean the entire group of players protesting will feel obligated to end their demonstrations.