A grievance filed against the Cincinatti Bengals on behalf of Carolina Panthers' Saftey Eric Reid, has been denied by an arbitrator. The NFL Players Assocation filed the grievance on Reid's behalf after information was made available that Bengals owner Mike Brown asked Reid whether or not he would continue to kneel during the national anthem if the team signed him.
Reid, who was the first player to kneel alongside Colin Kaepernick in his national anthem protest, was brough to Cincinatti on a free agent visit but did not leave the facilities with a contract even though he was more than qualfied considering his youth, their need for depth at that position, his health, and his ranking within that repsective position. The grievance alluded to the Bengals negotiating in bad faith due to the fact that they had no intentions on signing him if he planned to kneel during the national anthem — although there is no rule prohibiting players from doing so.
Katherine Terrell, of ESPN, reports:
The arbitrator ruled the Bengals were within their rights to ask whether Reid would continue to kneel. Reid began kneeling during the anthem during the 2016 season when he was with the San Francisco 49ers as a way to support Colin Kaepernick and draw attention to issues of social injustice.
“Arbitrator Shyam Das issued a decision yesterday siding with management and denying Eric Reid's claim against the Cincinnati Bengals,” the NFLPA said in a statement Tuesday. “We are disappointed in this decision, especially since the arbitrator affirms the facts which our filing was based upon and provides no in-depth analysis of why management can engage in behavior that violates fair hiring practices.
“Despite this decision, we are thrilled that Eric Reid is back with an NFL club doing the job he loves and our hope is that Colin Kaepernick follows him back to the playing field soon. We will review the decision more carefully with Eric and his lawyers to consider our next steps.”
Reid remained a free agent until he was signed by the Carolina Panthers in September and has continued to kneel during the national anthem. Kaepernick, who was the first player to begin kneeling during the anthem, remains unsigned and hasn't played since the 2016 season.
