Eric Reid is a 26-year old Pro Bowl safety. He is also currently without a team, and remains unsigned over a week into the free agency period.
Reid, and others, believe his decision to protest by taking a knee during the national anthem last season is contributing to the apparent lack of interest throughout the league. Reid blamed NFL ownership specifically on Twitter last week.
The notion that I can be a great signing for your team for cheap, not because of my skill set but because I’ve protested systemic oppression, is ludicrous. If you think is, then your mindset is part of the problem too.
— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) March 15, 2018
GMs aren’t the hold up broski. It’s ownership. People who know football know who can play. People who know me, know my character. https://t.co/M9ULziZg5V
— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) March 16, 2018
On Thursday, at his brother’s pro day workout no less, Reid addressed the issue with reporters, and said that if he’s signed by an NFL team this season, he doesn’t think he’ll protest the anthem.
“I’m not saying I’m going to stop being active, because I won’t,” Reid told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “I’m just going to consider different ways to be active, different ways to bring awareness to the issues of this country to improve on.
“I don’t think it’ll be in the form of protesting during the anthem. And I said ‘during’ because it’s crazy to me that the narrative got changed to we were protesting the anthem, because that wasn’t the case. But I think we’re going to take a different approach to how to be active.”
With three young safeties on the roster that the team likes — Jimmie Ward, Jaquiski Tartt, and Adrian Colbert — it seems unlikely that the 49ers would look to re-sign Reid this offseason. However, general manager John Lynch didn’t rule out the possibility.
“Eric played and played well for us last year,” Lynch said. “I think he’s stuck in a safety market that’s been quiet. And I would anticipate things starting to shake for him and we’ll see.
“I’d never say never. I really do think opportunities will start to come his way. We’ve been monitoring it closely and we’ll see how that shakes out.”