AndrewBlakeDallas, TX – Former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker is no fan of the National Football League’s anti-police protests of the national anthem. The former pro running back blames the NFL’s commissioner.
“I absolutely think the protests are so upsetting, and I blame the commissioner,” he said, according to the New York Post.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is currently negotiating an extension to his contract with the owners that would pay him up to $200 million over five years.
“I know people are going to be angry when I say it, but he should have stopped the protests at the very beginning,” Walker said.
“Guys, let me tell you this,” he said. “Our flag is very special, and black lives matter, but what we should do is go to Washington after the season and protest there instead. We have young men and women fighting for the flag. And we have to respect the White House,” he said.
Walker said people are using racism as an excuse to disrespect the President.
“He’s not a racist. I’ve known – I was gonna say Donald, for years – I’ve known President Trump since ‘82 … he’s not a racist. That’s an excuse people use. He’s a good man. So I think they need to give him a chance because he was elected as our President,” he told FOX News.
The 1982 Heisman trophy winner was willing to back up his support of the military and first responders.
He signed on with Rocky Ridge Trucks to promote their True American Hero Truck Giveaway contest.
The super prize for a “hero” of the uniformed and emergency services will be a free, customized, hand-painted, and American-made 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, worth $80,000.
“The heroes are people who go downrange that have bullets and bombs going off every night, but they get up and do a wonderful job,” Walker said.
The winner of the national contest will be an individual with exemplary records of public service in the military, or as a domestic first responder, the New York Post reported.
Walker began his professional football career in the United States Football League playing for the New Jersey Generals, who were owned at the time by Donald Trump. He also spent 12 seasons in the NFL.
Last Sunday, four NFL players protested before national anthems before the early games, according to Sports Illustrated. The New York Giants’ Olivier Vernon and the Miami Dolphin’s Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas, and Julius Thomas all took a knee during the national anthem.
But the protests may have started to lose their appeal with some NFL players.
Seattle’s Michael Bennett, who has kneeled in the past, stood for the national anthem on Sunday.
A new Harris poll showed that 77 percent of respondents said that players should stand for the anthem, and that 59 percent said the league should have a rule mandating players to stand, according to Townhall.com.
Sixty percent of those polled said they disapprove NFL commissioner Goodell’s handling of the matter.