The Players Coalition organized by Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and former NFL wide receiver Anquan Boldin fractured this week shortly before word surfaced of a deal that would see the league contribute $89 million to a variety of causes promoted by players who have taken part in protests over the last two seasons.
49ers safety Eric Reid and Dolphins safety Michael Thomas said they split with the group because they “don’t believe the coalition’s beliefs are in our best interests.” Boldin said on Thursday that there’s no ill will as a result of that decision.
“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” Boldin said, via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “People that think that all players would be on the same page when it comes to this would be naive. I think we all have the same goal in mind. I just think that there’s a different thought of how we get there. There’s definitely no hard feelings between us and other players, who don’t agree with us.”
The deal comes with no quid pro quo from the players to put an end to protests, which Mike Florio of PFT wrote doesn’t solve the problem that the league was trying to solve by working with the players. Boldin believes there is “incentive enough to get guys to stop protesting,” but the split within the group he put together suggests that might not be the case.