Players Empowered: A Shifting Consciousness in The NFL
There is a mighty shift happening in the NFL. I remember going to the rookie symposium in 2009 and the foremost message of the entire experience being “Protect the Shield”. The NFL’s favorite rhetoric to young players, “Protect the shield” because it is a privilege to be here. We are more important than you. You better watch how you act, what you say, mind who you are and what you think because in this place the almighty shield (NFL symbol) is God.
I remember thinking to myself then “protect the shield? Isn’t a shield meant to protect the individual wielding it?”. The seeds of this sentiment would slowly sprout its roots throughout my young consciousness taking me deeper and deeper into the realm of mindless warrior. I am lucky to be here. Forgetting all of the hard work, the pain, the punishment, the sacrifice, the mountains of adversity I had overcome to find myself in that seat. Drafted 39th overall to a team in the NFL. Letting go of myself to be a better teammate, to be a more obedient player, to fit into the system that is the NFL. Losing all sense of what made me happy, what brought me joy, what my inner self would at times be crying out for. All in the name of ‘protecting the shield’.
However, this player ethos seems to be dissolving. Players are speaking up for themselves. Players are beginning to voice their opinions about the world around them. Beginning to voice their feelings of distrust and displeasure. After week 1 of the 2019 football season a number of players on the Miami Dolphins were said to have sent text messages to their agents demanding trades. They had suffered an embarrassing loss to the Ravens, a few of the team’s key players had been traded away for future draft picks and there had been a creeping sentiment the organization was looking to tank the season in order to get the number 1 pick in the 2020 draft. No matter the situation this is an unprecedented story. Never in the history of the NFL has there been such an outburst from players.
This story is not unique to the Dolphins this season. All pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey of the Jaguars has been very vocal about wanting to be traded. The 2019 off season was full of wild happenings. There was the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. and the chronic traumatic encephalopathy laced saga of Antonio Brown. From on-top-of-the-world-NFL-star to sexual assault allegations in less than eighteen months. The behind-the-scenes world of professional football has come careening out of the shadows and into the mainstream light and there is no turning back.
2011 Jacksonville Jaguars: Jack Del Rio is fired and Wayne Weaver sells the team to Shad Khan.
2012, my last year in Jacksonville was a dismal one. The team had been sold and our head coach was fired the previous season. Mike Mularkey had been brought in as the new head coach and things were off to a rocky start to say the least. “We’re gonna be tough! We’re gonna work harder than anyone!” barked our fearless leader. Our training camp was a death march. We ran 200 plays a day. Worked ourselves to the bone. Our coaches running us into the ground. It would have been something to win however after 8 weeks we found ourselves at 1–7? And yet the philosophy never changed. It was the players fault the whole way through. Guys were benched, myself included as a way to energize the team. Looking around the locker room you saw nothing but exhaustion. Every player in that 2012 Jaguar locker room was taking a hard look at whether or not football was something any of us wanted to do anymore. Through it all no one requested a trade! Not even our star running back Maurice Jones Drew. We all acted as good soldiers. We trusted the system. We trusted our gods (the coaches). We put our heads down and went to work day after day no matter the blatant abuse. Maybe someone should have requested a trade? I know that if I had any semblance of self left at that point I sure as hell would have benefited from a change of scenery.
Where did this shift in the mindset of the players begin? Was it with Colin Kaepernick when he decided to take a knee during the national anthem to call attention to police brutality in our country? Was it later when he was completely shut down and drowned out by the insanity of anti-patriotism rhetoric? How dare he take a knee during our national anthem, disgracing our military in that way. No one even took the time to listen to what he was saying. He’s been black balled from the league and now dealt a settlement prohibiting him from speaking his heart any further. But maybe something in his actions awakened players to the reality of their predicament.
Perhaps it is social media that has lead to this uncomfortable yet necessary shift in the NFL player consciousness. Transforming the ethos of these men from warriors into entertainers feeling more empowered in their truth whatever that may be.
Athletes like Lebron James have forged a new path for athletes to more freely express their views into the public forum. Rather than being seen solely as physical specimens capable of great athletic feats players of all sports are beginning to be viewed as human beings with ideas and souls worth expressing.
For years players coming out of the league have voiced their thoughts and opinions on their experience in the league however the echoes only travel so far. Very few people care to hear the words of those no longer bolstered by the platform of being on the field. However, now it seems the players currently in the game are beginning to voice their thoughts and feelings on the current state of affairs. Why is the NFL an owners first league? Why is there such an Us versus Them relationship between players and owners?
While this evolution seems to be difficult and uncomfortable for most to witness. We are in the midst of a very necessary transformation. The awakened NFL player. A more powerful individual than we are accustomed to. Every other sports have had open minds and free spirits. The old paradigm is crumbling. And something new is beginning to emerge. With collective bargaining agreement negotiations underway this shift comes just in time.