Speaking at a meeting between owners, team executives and commissioner Roger Goodell, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair reportedly said "we can't have the inmates running the prison" in response to NFL players taking a knee during the United States national anthem.
McNair apologized for the statement on Friday on Twitter (I couldn't get the statement in the link to copy)
According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, Texans players wanted to walk out of practice after the comments and had to be persuaded to stay, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. According to Schefter, Houston's star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was not present at practice due to the comments from McNair.
Wickersham and Van Natta also spotlighted an exchange between Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and retired wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who briefly signed with Buffalo in August before deciding to step away from the game to focus on activism:
"At one point, Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula, moved by Anquan Boldin's story about his cousin being shot and killed by a police officer, complimented him on how impressive he was but kept calling him 'Antwan.' Then Pegula suggested that Boldin would be the perfect NFL spokesman on social issues not only because he had walked away from the game to pursue causes but because, the owner said, it couldn't be a 'white owner but needs to be someone who's black.'"
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