American Football has always been played out not only physically on the football field, but there has often been a sociopolitical backdrop to the sport too. Never has that been more in focus than right now, with the Black Lives Matter discourse acting as a warm-up to the season proper.

The NFL, of course, released a statement just two days ago that was loaded with contrition about how they have handled previous controversies – including the Colin Kaepernick situation – and have vowed to improve in the future.

We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv

— NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The U.S. is in an uproar over what many now see as gross racial inequality on several fronts. After two high-profile race-charged incidents occurred almost back to back this year, the country has been dealing with major riots, looting and even calls for entire police departments to be disbanded. As the disturbances die down, some of which have been peaceful, the cause of the uproar won’t be forgotten, and NFL fans have been put on notice. Colin Kaepernick may have been lambasted and forced out of the league because he knelt during the national anthem, but his message is going to continue, and more players are planning on kneeling during the playing of the national anthem once football gets started.

Kaepernick became well-known for kneeling during the anthem as a form of protest against racial inequality three years ago, but many, at the time, took it as a sign of disrespect for the country. Adrian Peterson, a running back for the Washington Redskins, has become one of the first to assert that he will follow in Kaepernick’s footsteps when the NFL kicks off this September, but there’s a good chance that the action won’t meet the same type of negative reaction as it did a few years ago.

The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd have rocked the nation, with armed National Guard soldiers being forced to take to the streets to restore peace and order. Kaepernick’s form of protest had all but been forgotten since he couldn’t find a team willing to sign him, but the killings have brought to the surface once again the message he was peacefully trying to convey previously.

Peterson expects others to join him this time around, and doesn’t expect players to be afraid of possible retribution on the part of the league – the NFL would be stupid to try to penalize players for their actions. The NFL MVP and seven-time Pro Bowler adds, “We’ve got to put the effort in as a group collectively. Are they going to try to punish us all? If not, playing football is going to help us save lives and change things, then that’s what it needs to be.”

It’s been a week in America that has seen the racial divisions threatening to tear the country apart spill over not just from the White House into the streets, but to the football field, too.

With anger, frustration and an overwhelming sense of injustice consuming many American citizens, the ‘Justice for George Floyd’ movement has seen the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter become an automatic trending topic again.

With the resumption of discussions around race in sport, many have called not only for the violence to end, but for voices within the black community to be listened to more, such as Colin Kaeprnick. Earlier this week, a call for the Minnesota Vikings to sign Kapernick and end his three-year ostracism from the sport he loves was made by former NFL executive Joe Lockhart.

Now, Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks has denounced the NFL’s current stance and pushed for more action.

With the George Floyd race riots lighting up Minneapolis in a blaze of fire, retribution and racial tensions are diving a proud City. With the NFL coming back in Autumn, the former NFL executive Joe Lockhart has used a column in CNN to argue that Colin Kaepernick should come back to American Football and in particular the Minnesota Vikings. 

It’s been almost four years since Colin Kaepernick threw a pass in the NFL, and since he left the San Francisco 49ers in the fallout from him taking the knee in protest at the powers that be. The national anthem, to many, hasn’t sounded the same. Kaepernick, however, hasn’t played since, despite showing off exactly how physically fit he still is with a range of workout videos.

America is a country that stands divided on the race riots, and on the side of George Floyd, many people have looked to Kaepernick for leadership. He hasn’t let them down, funding a legal defense team to help protestors know their rights and even setting up a Twitter page dedicated to coordinating efforts on their behalf.

What Lockhart argues football fans could really do with is Kaepernick back in his quarterback role on the field, in some ways to unite Minnesota and give the various factions a leading light to guide them through what are clearly very difficult times.

As the NFL continues to work toward a launch of the regular season this September, there are still a lot of issues to be worked out. One major issue has to deal with different rules and how they’re implemented, and team owners are expected to virtually get together today to go over the changes. With the revelation that the league already screwed up in trying to manage the pass interference challenge rule, which has now been scrapped, perhaps the owners can come up with a better solution that can easily be put into play. Heading into today’s call, they’ll have one less item on the list, as the NFL has scrapped plans to add a booth referee to the games. 

The pass interference challenge was designed, in part, to make up for the egregious error performed on the part of the officiating crew during the playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the LA Rams in the 2018-19 season. The NFL has already admitted to being a major failure with regards to that rule, and will try to work out an alternative. The booth referee, or sky judge, was initially created to be that replacement; however, it won’t be added to the rulebook for the upcoming season.

According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, “Both ‘sky judge’ proposals are being withdrawn prior to tomorrow’s virtual meeting on rule changes, sources say. Expect the NFL to still test some expanded booth-to-official communication system in the preseason. But no officiating personnel added for 2020.” He adds, “Adding a booth umpire/senior technology advisor could’ve supplanted last season’s controversial pass interference replay rule, which wasn’t renewed. But questions persist about how far that person’s power should extend. Competition committee supports further analysis.”

Peter King of NBC Sports chalks up the rule’s demise to lack of preparation on the part of the league. The eye in the sky was first discussed several years ago, and then revived after the Saints playoff debacle. Early last month, talk of the additional referee became more serious, but the league hasn’t been able to figure out how to come up with a plan of attack. Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive VP, told King, “The concept of the eighth man in the booth has some merit. But we just don’t have the pipeline [of officials] today. Can we get there? Yes. But today, it could be a challenge.”

The 2018 NFC championship game between the New Orleans Saints and the LA Rams resulted in a change in rules the following season, all because one referee was too blind to see something that was taking place six feet away. Without being able to challenge pass interference on the part of Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, the Saints lost a huge play and, ultimately, a chance at the Lombardi Trophy. Everyone knew what happened – even those in the cheap seats saw it and league officials would later sheepishly try to make amends. Starting with the 2019 season, it added a rule that would allow pass interference calls (or non-calls) to be made by coaches. However, the league still can’t get things right and even NFL Executive VP of Football Operations Troy Vincent admits that it “failed miserably” at implementing the rule. As they say, the third time’s the charm, so perhaps the NFL will get things right in the upcoming season.

In speaking with NBC Sports on the idea of the new sky judge coming to the league this year, Vincent explained, “We cannot fail this year. We saw, a year ago, when [the pass interference rule] played out, starting with myself, what we put in place last year … Those outcomes were not good for professional football. Because we didn’t do the proper due diligence, it played out publicly. The last thing people should be talking about is the way the game is officiated. They [officials] should be faceless objects, managing and facilitating game flow. We failed. I’m first in line. I shared that [with league officials]. I failed as the leader of that department. I failed. We cannot allow that to happen again. What did we learn from that? We’ve got to do our due diligence. You can’t rush and just shove something in there without knowing all the consequences. And we found that out last year, live and in action, publicly.”

The pass interference review was only in place for one season as a test, and the league decided not tomove forward with it. The introduction of a sky judge for the upcoming season is meant to give more officiating eyes on the game, with this official able to countermand calls made directly on the field. He, or she, will have access to instant replay technology and can chime in at virtually anytime. Of course, if the official is chasing butterflies, it becomes a useless position.

The NFL is also exploring a different rule change regarding the onside kick. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network shared the change on Twitter, and it seems to address the lack of success of onside kicks in previous seasons. However, as with previous attempts to introduce new rules, the NFL brass apparently didn’t think things through. After just a cursory glance, one coach told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated that he saw gaping holes in the implementation, with the rule being turned into an offensive weapon that could easily compromise the sportsmanship of football. In his own words, “There are some interesting scenarios that could arise. Take the lead with 5 seconds left, choose the 4th-and-15 option and run out the clock. … Up by a score with 10 seconds left, instead of squibbing, take the 4th-and-15, run as much time off as possible, take a safety then kick with only a couple seconds left.”

What do you get when you put four sporting legends together in a bid to raise money for charity? Answer: millions of dollars.

When the ideas team for a charity golf match put forward the prospect of Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning taking on Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady, it must have been one of the marketing slam-dunks of all-time. Two NFL legends, two golfing superstars who have previous, it had everything, potentially.

The reality is that the game itself was even better than the hype and the result of that was the raising of over $20 million to fight COVID-19 and help victims of the global pandemic.

With the PGA just two weeks away, the NFL has a little more lead-time on getting its biggest superstars fit and ready for the season. In a game that is as good for American Football as it has been for golf was a charity classic.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

How is it that the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees has never won an NFL MVP Award? He’s the league’s all-time leader in many regular-season passing categories and has won the single-season yardage title an astounding seven times.

On 12 occasions, a quarterback has reached the 5,000-yard plateau. Brees is responsible for five of them. He set the NFL record of 5,476 yards in 2011, but Peyton Manning passed that by one yard in 2013 with the Denver Broncos.

This might be Brees’ last season in the NFL as he’s 41 years old and already has a TV gig lined up on NBC. He’s +900 to win another passing yardage title. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is the clear-cut favorite at +350. As good as Mahomes has been in his two seasons as a starter, he hasn’t led the league in passing yards yet. The Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott is +625 to win his first such title, while new Tampa Bay Buccaneer Tom Brady is +800 to win it a fourth time.

Last week, the founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, was the highest bidder in a unique auction that would allow the lucky winner to spend an evening watching an NFL game with league commissioner Roger Goodell. Portnoy paid $250,000 for the opportunity, which will see Goodell invite the entrepreneur into his home when, and if, the football season gets underway. However, Goodell may not be totally pleased with the outcome of the auction, and might try to do something to sabotage it. There are even lines up on the odds of whether or not the encounter will take place.

Goodell and Portnoy don’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of subjects. It could because the commissioner was slammed by Portnoy during “DeflateGate” in 2015. At one point, Portnoy became so incensed with Goodell that he began wearing a T-shirt of the commissioner sporting a red clown’s nose. Things got so heated that, last year, Portnoy was booted from Super Bowl LIII and banned from NFL Media Night.

The money raised was for a good cause – providing relief to those who have been economically impaired from the coronavirus. Portnoy is publicly excited about his ability to give some assistance, made possible by the acquisition of his company by Penn National Gaming, explaining in a video posted on Twitter, “Two hundred and fifty grand. A quarter Milly. That’s how much it cost me. Good charity. Great charity. I’m happy to give the money. Let’s help people. Let’s go watch some football, Roger. I got some questions. We got all day. Football takes, what, three, four hours? No handcuffs, no jail. I paid fair and square. I won. Quarter Milly. Me and you, Roger. Let’s put that money to good use. You know, I’m happy to donate it. Let’s talk.”

The NFL and Goodell saw the auction as a perfect opportunity to support financial relief efforts, but probably didn’t think things all the way through. If Goodell were to reject the encounter, the NFL would have to return Portnoy’s money and hold the auction again. That could lead to a weaker response and even a lawsuit by Portnoy for breach of contract. However, if the commissioner invites Portnoy into his mancave, there’s no telling what will happen. Portnoy admits that he is a “walking GoPro” and will have no qualms about airing everything he encounters, much to the chagrin of Goodell.

The coronavirus has certainly caused a lot of financial damage to people and businesses around the world, but professional athletes stooping to robbery seems to be an extreme reaction. Unfortunately, this is allegedly what has happened, as police in South Florida now want two NFL football players to come in for questioning after they were accused of committing armed robbery of a house party Wednesday. Warrants have already been issued for their arrest.

Cornerbacks DeAndre Baker, 22, of the New York Giants and Quinton Dunbar, 27, of the Seattle Seahawks are reportedly behind the criminal activity, which took place at a home in Miramar. A neighborhood cookout was underway at the time, and a fight broke out that resulted in Baker brandishing a firearm. The two football players, along with two other accomplices, then began to rob the partygoers, taking everything from money to jewelry. They reportedly made off with thousands of dollars in cash.

Stealing thousands of dollars for athletes on multimillion-dollar contracts is puzzling enough, but is compounded by the thieves’ exit. There getaway cars weren’t exactly low-profile, and included a Mercedes Benz, a BMW and a Lamborghini. Confusing the situation even more is the fact that the witnesses told investigators that the cars had been parked in a manner to allow for a quick escape, which leads detectives to believe the entire ordeal was planned from the start.

Baker was picked up in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Giants last season and went on to start in 15 games for the team. He picked up 61 tackles on the season, and should have been well-set financially. He reportedly signed a four-year contract worth $10.525 million that included a $5.6-million signing bonus. The Giants said after being contacted about the incident, “We are aware of the situation. We have been in contact with DeAndre. We have no further comment at this time.”

The NFL Draft may have taken place online, but virtual or not, the American Football NFL season is sure to go ahead at some stage. Plans about exactly how it is to be launched have been vague in the least since the Draft, but a memo to the participating teams from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has outlined some of the details we can expect to see when the teams take to the field on the opening day of the season.

The memo has told teams not to publicly comment on the specifics of the plans, because as Goodeel puts it, ‘it is impossible to project what the next few months will bring’.

Here’s the statement in full, revealed on Twitter by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero:

On the eve of the schedule release, Commissioner Roger Goodell also sent a memo to clubs discouraging public comment by club officials on hypotheticals surrounding the 2020 season, saying in part: “It is impossible to project what the next few months will bring.” pic.twitter.com/Zoyz2RLU5l