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“We wanted to make sure we controlled the narrative of what happened,” Adams said after the game. “All the extra details of what took place inside the locker room, we’ll keep that for our football team. We just wanted to make sure we stayed together, kept the focus on what it was. You get out there and guys kneeling, guys not, whatever, it just gets hijacked. We didn’t want anyone to take off with it and give a new meaning to what we were trying to do. We decided to stay inside as a team.”
Whether it be via text message or Zoom meetings with position groups and coaches — or even public social media interactions — Packers players have been opening up to one another on a level that has stretched far deeper than the bowling trips, rented movie theaters and team dinners that coalesced the 2019 team.
“I’ve dealt with it personally in multiple places,” Will Redmond said of social injustice in late August. “To me, it was a touchy topic and I decided to speak up. For me, I just wanted to shine a light to my teammates, no matter who you are — rookie, third-year guy, fifth-year guy, 10-year guy, we have a voice so let’s use it. Now, I’m just continuing to try to stay on a path to try to lead guys from my hometown, try to speak. A lot of stuff comes from when guys don’t really know, so I just try to voice my opinion and try to let people know what’s going on in our world, what’s going on lately, as much as possible.”
Whether intentional or not, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur helped facilitate conversations in person when the team returned to Lambeau Field in late July. He surprised his team by repositioning lockers, so instead of players being placed by position group they were set up as offense-defense-offense, putting players together who may not have normally interacted.
The impact of that depended on the individual, but multiple players told PackersNews.com that decision helped foster a stronger team bond as they worked through many difficult conversations.
“In the locker room everyday I think you hear somebody speaking about something that’s racial injustice, kind of that category or genre of conversation and just in different parts of the locker room,” offensive lineman Billy Turner said in mid-August. “Obviously, there’s a lot of guys, there’s a lot of staff and personnel and there’s always a conversation around it, which is good because spreading that word and spreading that message and keeping that genre alive is going to be something that helps us progress and move forward and possibly take a couple steps forward in this fight. But the question is going to be, as we move forward throughout this season, are guys still going to be able to take that stride forward and put that front foot forward to make a difference in that category.”
All of those private conversations led to the decision to remain in the locker room, which was perhaps the most impactful of their public statements. For many of the Packers, it was thoughtful, heartfelt and necessary — but ultimately still just symbolic.
“I wouldn’t even say it’s a big thing, but I like to call it a problem in America, so people like me who have the platform and have the voice that people will listen to, I feel like it’s imperative for people like me to step up and do my part,” Adams said Aug. 3. He was part of a powerful player-led June 4 social media video, which sparked a significant change in dialogue from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “It’s not just about the tweets or the videos or stuff like that, it’s the actual things that we can do.”
Not every act is public, but Turner started a project called “Public Immunity” which he said will address and help social issues through his artistic lens. Redmond went home to Memphis, Tennessee to give out free meals June 13. Defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster connected with a handful of prominent Chicago athletes to buy a building in a food desert and commission its demolition to rebuild it as a grocer.
“I was sort of stuck in a place like, what can I do?” said Lancaster, who recalled his thoughts while watching television on June 2. “There were riots in Chicago and I was like, there’s so much going on and I was like, what can I do to make change? I was really struggling. I was texting other teammates, telling them where I come from, wanting to get other people’s points of view.”
The Packers have been a bonded group on this topic, which players and staff say has been strengthened by the very public support of Murphy. A former player who is a powerful figure in the league, Murphy has been ardent in backing any message the players have chosen to convey. He said the club will work to help register as many voters as possible before opening the Johnsonville Tailgate Village as a polling place and working with Green Bay, Ashwaubenon and Brown County police departments to purchase body cameras.
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Mouthing the words to the National Anthem, and
standing up while doing it, does not make
you A PATRIOTIC AMERICAN if you choose to:
