LB Lee is now a big doggy
TODD BOWLES and Hue Jackson are two of seven black coaches in the NFL. But they have very different opinions when it comes to national anthem protests.
Jackson is in his second season at the helm of the Browns, and on Tuesday, the 51-year-old coach said he hopes his team doesn’t “have those issues” in response to a question about anthem protests. He received a great deal of criticism for the statement, especially considering the current climate of the nation after the white nationalist terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
On Wednesday, Bowles was asked for his thoughts, and the third-year Jets coach was thoughtful and conscientious with his answer — virtually the opposite of Jackson. Bowles gave a similar reply last season when the topic was broached after Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem.
“It’s their individual right. We don’t have a rulebook on what’s right to protest and not protest. You don’t know those things until the course of time,” Bowles said after Gang Green’s 14th practice of training camp. “Whether it’s sitting for the anthem, whether it’s raising your first, whether it’s speaking out, whether it’s a walk to Washington, who’s to say whose protest is good or bad, you know?
“As a football team, politics — and people are human. They’re part of it. So you can’t say what’s good or bad. I’m sure mostly everybody — I know I’m against racism, segregation and all that other stuff. But how do we come to an answer? I don’t have that answer. How do we come to a common ground? I don’t have that answer. It’s a hell of a debate and a hell of a topic. It needs to stop. I don’t have the answers to that. But who’s to say whose protest is good or bad? That’s just the way they feel and that’s their way to express it.”
The comments re-affirm the statement Bowles made last year.
“They have that right. That’s what the country’s about,” said Bowles then. “We all have the right to do what we want.”
Many objected to the way Jackson dismissed the racial injustice in America as someone else’s issues
“We hope the things that are going on in the world get ironed out,” he said Wednesday, per Cleveland.com. “But I know right now we are doing everything we can to get our football team better.”
Bowles, though, understands the members of his team are more than just football players. He said he’s talked with his squad about anthem protests. The Raiders’ Marshawn Lynch and Seahawks’ Michael Bennett both sat for the anthem at their respective first preseason games last week.
“We talk about current events all the time. It’s more than football with us. We talk about a lot of things,” Bowles said. “Everybody has their own feelings about it. You can’t sway anybody one way or the other. We’re all grown men here. That’s AP how people feel, that has nothing to do with what they do in practice or what they do on the field. But separately, off the field, they’re going to feel the way they feel.”
Bowles said he hasn’t brought up the Charlottesville attack and white nationalist violence with his team “yet.”
If one of his players decides to protest Saturday before the Jets’ second preseason game in Detroit, Bowles doesn’t believe it will be divisive. When asked if he expects a player to protest, Bowles said, “Not to my knowledge.
“It hasn’t caused anything in our locker room. I can’t speak for everyone else’s locker room,” Bowles said. “But off the field, everybody has their right to do what they want and think the way they want, and their protest is their protest.”
Linebacker Jordan Jenkins told the News on Monday that he opts to stand for the anthem because his father and grandfather both served in the military, “but people fought for your right to stand for the anthem and to sit for the anthem as well.”
Leonard Williams, who is determined to be a leader for this young Jets group this season, said the players haven’t discussed the anthem protests internally.
“I would obviously support them (if they protested),” Williams said of his teammates. “Everybody has their freedom of speech and rights to do what they want to do. But at the same time, I would try to tell them to stay focused on us.” LAST YEAR at Jets training camp, Sheldon Richardson called thenrookie inside linebacker Darron Lee “little dog” because of his smaller physique.
But Lee doesn’t think that nickname applies anymore.
“That was fair last year,” Lee said Wednesday after practice. “This year, nah.”
Lee, who battled a sprained ankle for most of last season, left Jets minicamp in June weighing 227 pounds, five pounds less than he weighed at the 2016 NFL Combine. When he returned about six weeks later for training camp, though, he’d gained nine pounds and weighed in at 236. Teammates noticed. “On my conditioning test, everybody was like, ‘You look noticeably bigger,’” Lee said. “Hey, I put in that work.”
Lee said he was able to commit more time to his workout regimen this offseason without the distraction of the NFL Draft and all its obligations. The Jets took Lee with the No. 20 overall pick in 2016.
Lee recovered from his ankle injury and was healthy for spring practices. Then over the brief spring and summer break, the strategy was simple: “Just eat, hydrate, that’s about it,” he said.
NO SUCH LUCKY
Returner and wide receiver Lucky Whitehead will have surgery to repair the broken foot he suffered in Monday’s practice, Bowles said.
“Not sure about the timetable, though,” Bowles added. “He’ll be out some time.”
Running back Matt Forte (hamstring) didn’t participate in team drills Wednesday. He hasn’t practiced fully since Aug. 1. Wide receiver Marquess Wilson (hip) sat out Wednesday’s session.
SIM CITY
Facing the first-team defense in an 11-on-11 simulatuion game, Josh McCown led a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, connecting with Robby Anderson for the score after CB Morris Claiborne fell over. McCown completed all seven of his passes.
Christian Hackenberg worked against the second-team defense. He gained one first down after completing a third-down throw to Frankie Hammond. But after taking a sack two plays later, Hackenberg threw an interception on third-and-10 to Dexter McDougle to end his drive. …Bowles said the position battles at offensive tackle and center are still ongoing: “We’re going to see what happens in the next two or three weeks.” — Popper