Former NFL player and Bethune-Cookman's new head football coach Ed Reed wasted no time making headlines as he compared NFL playing fields to “slave fields.” Colin Kaepernick and NFL VP Troy Vincent have previously made the same absurd claim, and the Pro Football Hall of Famer Reed appears to be reactivating a race-baiting echo chamber.
In response to a media question about Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest, Reed complained that all NFL contracts are not guaranteed. The Buffalo Bills and NFL Players Association agreed to waive a rule that would have reduced Hamlin’s pay. Only a two-year veteran, Hamlin did not qualify for receiving full pay after his playing status was shifted to the NFL’s injured reserve list. Due to his circumstances, he will continue to draw full pay.
Nevertheless, Reed spouted off about the NFL mistreating (millionaire) players “like shit.” Hamlin, who started the year as a backup, was slaving away on a $3.64 million contract, by the way.
“You know our league is ran [sic] by owners,” Reed (seen in his 2019 Hall of Fame speech) complained. “We know that. We know it’s not a players-led league. We know the truth. Everybody know [sic] the truth and the truth is who runs it and why it’s ran [sic] that way, it’s still the fields. It’s still an extension of the fields.”
First, Reed is reminding people that some black athletes detest the word “owner” because they say it denotes plantation owners. The NBA will not even use the word anymore, preferring to call its team owners “governors.”
Second, Kaepernick in 2021 compared the NFL’s scouting combine to a “slave auction.” He was denounced by Clay Travis as an imbecile for the remarks he made in a Netflix documentary.
Less than a month ago, NFL Executive Vice-president Vincent repeated the same far-fetched and idiotic claim.
Outkick blogger Grayson Weir commented that Reed “seemingly likened the NFL to a modern-day plantation that shackles athletes under the guise of employment.”
All three of these people are deluded in comparing today’s multi-millionaire athletes to slaves, who earned no sweat equity and who had no unions working to improve their work conditions.
Reed also wants guaranteed contracts for all players, so that teams and the NFLPA don’t have to waive the rules in situations such as Hamlin’s. The issue of guaranteed contracts is light-years beyond any comparison to unpaid slaves.
It’s ludicrous to think billion-dollar football teams would invest in athletes without knowing anything about their speed, strength and athleticism. A lot of athletes would beg for the opportunity to attend a scouting combine with the potential to earn incredible wealth.
Reed was a true Hall of Famer on the field during his illustrious playing career, though his latest comments are anything but stellar.
