Undecided on taking knee but decidedly vocal

Brandon Marshall has not made a decision, but he has watched and he has listened. The Broncos linebacker, who took a knee during the national anthem for the first eight games last season to protest social injustice in the United States, said he’s encouraged by the resurgence of player protests during the preseason.

“I think it makes a big difference,” he said Thursday. “Before I took a knee last year, I decided that, OK, I don’t want to just take one, I want to put some actions behind it. So in my opinion, as long as everyone that’s doing it is out there actively doing something about it like ‘Kaep’ (Colin Kaepernick), like me, like Malcolm (Jenkins), Michael Bennett. Marshawn Lynch does a lot in his community. As long as people are actually actively doing something while they’re protesting, I think it’s good and I think it could actually have a huge impact.”

Marshall believes the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., was a turning point for many players.

The day after the incident, the Seahawks’ Bennett sat for the anthem before a preseason game and later said the involvement of white players would make the movement more effective. Two white players — Philadelphia’s Chris Long and Seattle’s Justin Britt — subsequently placed their arm or hand on the shoulders of kneeling black teammates to show support.

Cleveland tight end Seth DeValve was the first white player to take a knee.

“I think it’s huge,” Marshall said.

“I’m not sure if he’s getting backlash, but I like his reasons behind it. He said he’s going to be raising kids that don’t look like him. He’s married to a black woman. So, to see him do that, I think it’s great. It’ll be great for the cause.”

Marshall has not kneeled during the preseason. But he has remained vocal on social media about the protests and about Kaepernick’s continued unemployment and activism.

Many, Marshall included, believe Kaepernick is being “blackballed” by the NFL owners. The Broncos pursued Kaepernick in 2016 after Peyton Manning retired. But a deal was never made. And now Kaepernick may no longer be perceived as just a quarterback.

“I like that, though,” Marshall said. “He’s an activist, he cares about the people. He’s much more than a quarterback and that doesn’t define him. I think more athletes need to understand — I think a lot of people struggle postfootball, post-career with finding their identity because their identity is so ingrained in football. ‘I”m a football player.’ But we’re much more than that.”

Marshall said potentially facing more backlash, as he did a year ago, hasn’t swayed him one way or the other in deciding whether to protest again.

“The backlash doesn’t bother me. At first, it was overwhelming last year,” he said. “But you get used to it. You get over it. And you know that when you’re going against the grain, you can receive a lot of backlash.

“People aren’t scared of that anymore. They’re not scared of what the team might say or what the fans or people might say. And I think that’s how it should be. You should do what’s right, what you feel is right because of what you feel is right. And it’s not going to be popular all the time.”