NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris Says In His Day, The ‘Meanest Guys In Football’ Would Handle Kneelers

NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris says his former teammates wouldn’t have tolerated kneeling for the national anthem.

Franco Harris Says His Meanest Teammates Would Have Handled The Situation

NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris said that national anthem protests would not have been tolerated when he played in the 1970s and 1980s.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the protests when he took a knee during the national anthem during an exhibition game last year. But some other players have joined the protest, which are seen by many fans as anti-police, unpatriotic, or disrespecting our nation’s veterans.

Harris said that America does have to deal with social issues, but Kaepernick and other players should find a different platform for their protests, according to Fox News.

“If someone has a certain stance that they want to take, that’s fine,” Harris told Mediate. “When he puts on that suit, when he steps out on that field, now it’s more than just him. It’s his teammates, it’s the NFL, and it’s the fans.”

Harris went on to say that the team must come first. He said his coaches and teammates would have confronted Kaepernick over his protest if he tried taking a knee while playing for Harris’s Steeler teams.

“We had two of the meanest guys in football, who I think would’ve dealt with it that way, and that would’ve been Joe Greene and Jack Lambert,” Harris said.

Kaepernick is an unsigned free agent due to the unpopularity of his protest among fans.

Retired NFL player Ray Lewis said the Baltimore Ravens were going to sign Kaepernick to play this season until Kapernick’s girlfriend posted an insulting tweet about Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens’ owner Steve Biscotti, according to ESPN.

Kaepernick’s girlfriend Nessa Diab compared in an Aug. 2 tweet a picture of Lewis hugging Bisciotti to a scene from the movie “Django Unchained,” in which Samuel Jackson’s character as a loyal house slave held Leonardo DiCaprio’s sadistic plantation owner character.

“His girl [Diab] goes out and put out this racist gesture and doesn’t know we are in the back office about to try to get this guy signed,” Lewis said. “Steve Bisciotti has said it himself: ‘How can you crucify Ray Lewis when Ray Lewis is the one calling for Colin Kaepernick?'”