Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Justin Reid says that when meeting with teams about the 2018 NFL Draft, he was repeatedly asked if he intended to take a knee during the national anthem like his big brother, Eric Reid.
The younger Reid, who joined the Super Bowl-winning team just ahead of that winning 2022 season, spent his first four years in the league with the Houston Texans after they drafted him with their third-round pick in 2018. But he now says that his brother’s anti-American actions hung over him in many pre-draft interviews.
Talking to The Pivot Podcast podcast last Friday, Reid said that anthem kneeling was still a big topic two years after his brother and Colin Kaepernick began protesting during the anthem to attack the U.S. military, our history, first responders, and Old Glory.
(L-R) Eli Harold #58, Colin Kaepernick #7, and Eric Reid #35 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel on the sideline during the National Anthem before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi’s Stadium on October 2, 2016, in Santa Clara, California. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
“I visited with 28 teams before the draft. Houston actually wasn’t one of the teams that I talked to because they didn’t think they had a shot at getting me. Their first pick was in the third round. I thought I was going (in Round) 1 or 2,” Justin Reid told the podcast hosts.
“Some of the visits I ended up having some conversations on social justice issues. This is fresh off of Kaepernick and my brother kneeling. This was still a very hot and taboo topic that was going around the league,” he continued.
“I remember some teams asked me straight up, ‘Are you gonna kneel?’ You know, ‘Is it gonna be a distraction?’ At that point I’m like, ‘Na, coach I ain’t gonna kneel. I’m not gonna kneel, coach. I’ll do what you need me to do,’” he said laughing.
The younger Reid also said that he felt “hurt” when his brother began facing trouble continuing his NFL career after vocally attacking the country for two seasons.
Eric Reid went from playing with the 49ers alongside Kaepernick to spending two seasons with the Carolina Panthers — where he continued his protests — before being left on the outside looking in and finding no team willing to pick him up since 2019.
Eric Reid, #25 of the Carolina Panthers, kneels during the National Anthem before an NFL football game against the Houston Texans Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, in Houston. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
He also filed a “collusion” grievance against the league in 2018, claiming he was blackballed for expressing his anti-American opinion.
Still, Reid says he does not necessarily disagree with his older brother’s political positions, but he is wary of being too vocal.
“There’s a fine line with it because I would never not be on his side,” Reid explained. “That’s my blood. That’s my brother. He’s my idol. He was my role model growing up. I compared everything that I did to what he did at that age to measure myself. I will always have his back. But it’s a fine line you gotta play with just picking your moments to be vocal and be loud about it because… like, I pick my moments intentionally, but I don’t try and do it in a way that, you know, I’ve seen this movie before.”
“I know the potential on which way this could go. I pick my moments when I’m vocal about it and sometimes I just gotta sit tight because, at the end of the day, I truly believe I can have a bigger impact whenever I build my platform, my brand up, bigger than what it is when I’m at a vulnerable state that can pulled from underneath me so quickly,” he concluded.
Justin Reid earned 83 tackles and one sack during the 17 games he played for the Chiefs in 2022.
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