Panthers WR Torrey Smith Says NFL’s National Anthem Policy Makes Kaepernick’s Protest Seem ‘In Vain’

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith is one of dozens of NFL players who have voiced disappointment with the league’s new policy on national anthem protests.

Torrey Smith On National Anthem Protests

The NFL ruled last week that players must stand for the anthem or face fines, although they can choose to stay in the locker room if they wish. Smith said he feels like this decision makes it appear as if Colin Kaepernick‘s original sitting protest in August 2016 was all for nothing.

“When you see reactive policy … I always think that’s a problem,” Smith said on Tuesday. “Especially when the message has been changed and guys aren’t against the military and they’ve been protesting for what Kaepernick originally started, against [police] brutality.”

He continued: “It almost makes it seem like a guy like Kaepernick and Eric Reid and guys who started it originally, like what they did was in vain, like they were villains. That’s not the case.”

Smith was among the first football players to comment about the league’s policy on social media on Wednesday, and noted how the NFL seemed to have forgotten the meaning behind the protest.

Smith also told ESPN this week he believes that the NFL ultimately just cares about money.

“You’re disappointed but not surprised,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, the league is about money, it’s a business. To try to silence those guys when they’re trying to do the right thing for our country, I don’t know what to say about it.”

Smith, 29, and Kaepernick were teammates on the 49ers in 2015 and 2016.

No formal vote was held on the protests, something that also caused great outrage.

Former New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich also responded last week to the NFL’s new anthem policy on Fox News. Herzlich, who serves on the NFL Players’ Association’s executive committee, also commented on how the protests should not simply be regarded as players voicing their opposition to the flag and the country or to President Donald Trump. After the league announced its decision, Trump said players who kneel or sit for the anthem maybe “shouldn’t be in the country.”

“I think the best way to handle remarks like that is not necessarily a pushback against the remark, but to maintain the focus on the real issue,” Herzlich said on Fox News. “The real issue isn’t players being against a president or against a country. It’s about players being for unity, and they want to create an atmosphere with law enforcement and with others in the community that we share in the locker room.”

ESPN host Michelle Beadle also criticized the NFL for its national anthem policy on her show Get Up! last week. Beadle noted how the “point of the protests” was about police brutality and racial inequality, and said that it was never about disrespecting the flag, anthem or military veterans before adding that the league is simply attempting to appease many of its conservative fans rather than have an honest, open discussion with its players about race.

Beadle also cited the incident of black NBA player Sterling Brown, who was tazed by police in Milwaukee in January after a tense confrontation over a parking violation. Video footage of the incident surfaced on Wednesday.

“Five grown men surrounded this guy for parking his car across two spots at 2am in front of a Walgreen’s, and were immediately escalated to the point of tazing him. That’s the point of the protests,” said Beadle.

Beadle also slammed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell‘s statement for saying that allowing players to say in the locker room to protest was a form of compromise.