Joe Ellis affirms support for players and push for racial justice ahead of 2020 season

Miles

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Mar 18, 2019
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As the focus inside UCHealth Training Center turns toward the upcoming football season and how it will proceed amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the push for greater social and racial justice in America will not be left behind.


When the first game of the 2020 arrives — on Sept. 14 for the Broncos — the NFL will likely see a wave of players exercising their free speech and right to protest on the fields where they go to work every week during the fall. This will probably take the form of kneeling during the national anthem, keeping in line with previous protests in previous years, including the one made famous by Colin Kaepernick in 2016 at the encouragement of former Green Beret Nate Boyer.


With the possibility that the Broncos and teams across the league will kneel during the upcoming season, Broncos President and CEO Joe Ellis said that he and the organization would support Broncos players regardless of their choice, which could be made as a group decision among the players.


"Everyone's got a right to do as they please, express themselves how they feel, and I'm going to respect that and we're going to respect that as an organization," President and CEO Joe Ellis said Tuesday. "I think once we get down to 53, my guess is that the players will meet and convene and they'll want to do something as a team. I will be there to listen and learn, and it's been an eye-opening period of, what, about three months now. And as I've said, I'm going to respect whatever it is they decide to do. We're going to stand by that as an organization."


This year, the image of kneeling protesters across the country has gained added meaning after Minneapolis resident George Floyd was killed by a police officer when he kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes as he asphyxiated on the pavement with his hands handcuffed behind his back.


In the weeks after Floyd's death, protests spread across the country in an unprecedented fashion.


As emotions burned and players searched for the right avenue to make their voices heard, Ellis first joined the conversation in video conference calls with the team to hear players' thoughts on the matter, in addition to other recent killings, including that of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.


The stories he heard would make quite the impact; days later he would be marching alongside them through downtown Denver.
 
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