Eric Reid Continues to Support Colin Kaepernick

Safety Eric Reid signed a three year deal worth $22 million to rejoin the Carolina Panthers on Monday.

Eric Reid was notably the first NFL player to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests. On his behalf, the NFL Players Association filed a collusion grievance against the league.

The grievance alleges that the NFL and team owners colluded to prevent Reid signing with the 49ers in 2016. The NFLPA believes that they did so under the influence of President Donald Trump.

Eric Reid said that signing a substantial contract with the Panthers will aid him in the collusion case.

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“If anything, it proves my point from last year,” he said.

I didn’t sign until a [few weeks into] the regular season. This year I signed a more substantial contract over the same time period. I’m the same player.'”

On Colin Kaepernick, Reid isn’t optimistic about his former teammate’s chances of playing NFL football again. Kaepernick hasn’t played since the 2016 season.

“Knowing what I know, my hope tank is on E,” Reid said.

“This is a leverage game, so we’ll see what happens moving forward.”

However, that doesn’t mean that Reid and others have given up on protesting against social injustice in the United States.

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Reid and a group of other sportspeople and celebrities boycotted the recent Super Bowl in Atlanta in support of Kaepernick. It was a peaceful protest in the face of police brutality and racial injustice.

“I spent time with my family, did homework with my daughters, played cards,” Reid said. “It was a family day.”

Of the controversy surrounding Reid, quarterback Cam Newton doesn’t believe it will be a distraction for the Panthers.

“I’m going to stand by him knowing none of that will be a distraction for us winning football games,” he said.