David Tepper is among the group of NFL owners that have welcomed the idea of players protesting against racial injustices and that's resonated with Tre Boston. Boston, who's on his second stint with the Carolina Panthers, says that Carolina's front office is much different than it was a few years ago.
In a conversation with Joseph Person of The Athletic, Boston recalled a time in 2016 when members of the Panthers were informed not to protest:
“It just trickles from the top down,” the Panthers safety said, via ProFootballTalk. “It ended up being, the people come to watch football, they don’t come to watch protests. … You know that talk,” Boston said Wednesday. “From there, we were just advised don’t do it. They would put us in the community on Tuesday. After Tuesday came, we got no word, Wednesday came, no word. By the time it was the end of the season, we still had no word and hadn’t been put in the community.”
When Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel during the national anthem in 2016, that caused an uproar in the NFL. While select-few teams allowed players to kneel, the Panthers—under the ownership of Jerry Richardson—didn't permit players to join in.
On Wednesday, the statue of Richardson in front of Bank of America Stadium was removed by the team. During his time with the Panthers, Richardson was surrounded by controversy that led to him selling the team. Boston, yesterday, claimed Richardson, who brought Carolina into the NFL back in 1995, was not willing to listen to the players' peaceful protest.
Nevertheless, since Tepper has taken over, the Panthers have been more proactive in letting players speak their minds. Despite not being able to in 2016, Boston is pleased that Tepper is giving players a chance to use their platform this time around.
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