Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn goes off about Colin Kaepernick and the protests

Anthony Lynn was an interim head coach for the Buffalo Bills before getting a head coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers. Lynn is one of the few black coaches in the NFL. He wanted to make a statement about the protests and other things but felt he would much rather bring awareness by actions. He said he is pissed in his latest article. He sat down with LA Times, to talk about the protests and much more. Check it out here.

I’ve read some good statements. I read Brian Flores from the Dolphins and I agree 100% with him. I read Doc Rivers’ statement and those guys spoke from the heart. I think statements are needed to bring awareness to the situation. But I want to do something too. I don’t want to just put [a statement] out there because it’s the right thing to do. I want change . . . so I guess it starts with having this conversation and talking things out. In 1992 I remember watching L.A. burn and here we are in 2020 and I’m watching it again and it just hit me, nothing has changed.

I haven’t done anything to make this a better place for my son. I remember having the talk with him when he was 16 about how to handle police and then at age 30 I called him up and just had the talk with him again because I’m so scared. I want to do something but to be honest with you, I don’t know what that is.

He went on saying that America misunderstood Colin Kaepernick’s stance on police brutality.

People completely misunderstood Colin and what he was trying to do. People talked about disrespecting the flag . . . the flag covers a lot —patriotism and civil rights and other things. And Colin was speaking out against the injustice and a lot of people didn’t catch on to that because it was happening during the national anthem. They thought it was disrespectful to the flag. I was surprised by the number of people who didn’t know why he was protesting. I got letters from people. I had people walk up to me and ask, “Coach, what are you going to do if someone on your team protests?” And I had to explain to them that Colin is taking a knee for criminal justice [reform] and police brutality and once you broke it down, they were like, “Oh, we didn’t know that. We thought he was protesting the flag.” And that was the case for a lot of people I came across.

Lynn was then asked about how he feels that Kaepernick is not in the league. His response is powerful.

I didn’t like it. I know when you look at 32 quarterbacks in the National Football League, Colin could have been one of the 32. If not, he could have been a quality backup. For me being an African-American head coach, this is tough.

I honestly feel like Anthony Lynn is correct. We do not need to continue to talk about it, we need actions to change the way our country operates. Thank you for your response Anthony Lynn!