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Texans players enraged over Bob McNair’s ‘inmates’ comment and these are the facts

Players react and social media delivers as the story unfolds

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    Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans shakes hands with Chris Polk #22 before the game at NRG Stadium on November 29, 2015 in Houston, Texas. Bob Levey/Getty Images
    Kelley D. Evans By @kelleysthrngrl

    It’s Week 8 of the NFL season and more drama is unfolding following President Donald Trump’s statements during a speech at a political rally Sept. 22 in Huntsville, Alabama, against kneeling during the national anthem to raise awareness of racial inequalities that started the storm.

    While some players are still standing in solidarity and exercising their right to freedom of expression, other players are looking for solutions. But after Houston Texans owner Bob McNair’s statements in a private meeting about the protests were revealed, players are faced with a new issue.

    On Oct. 18 during a meeting attended by NFL owners, player union representatives and team executives, McNair said, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

    The comment was reported by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. and in ESPN The Magazine, where they cited complex details about the meeting.

    As Friday went on, and the story unfolded, here are some facts to consider and players’ reactions.

    Others in the meeting were offended by McNair’s characterization.

    NFL executive Troy Vincent said he’s been called many things including the N-word but he never felt like an “inmate.” McNair later pulled Vincent aside and apologized, saying that he felt horrible, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

    McNair issued a public apology Friday following the ESPN The Magazine report.

    “I regret that I used that expression,” McNair said in a statement. “I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players. I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally. I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it.”

    McNair’s comments enrage players despite the delivery of the news.

    Texans head coach Bill O’Brien held a morning meeting Friday so the players would not be blindsided, sources told Schefter.

    Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was not having any of it.

    About 10 players, including Hopkins, left the facility Friday. Sources told Schefter that Hopkins’ absence from practice Friday was directly related to McNair’s comment. Most of the players who left returned to the facility, the source added, and the remaining players were talked out of staging a walkout by the coaching staff. The team is expecting that all players including Hopkins, will make the flight to Seattle Saturday for Sunday’s matchup against the Seahawks. O’Brien called Hopkins’ absence from practice a “personal day.”

    An emotional meeting was held for players.

    O’Brien, general manager Rick Smith and assistant head coach Romeo Crennel led a 90-minute meeting to allow players to honestly express their feelings. The goal was to make sure that the organization did not splinter and that it would turn protest into progress. The players were emotional during the meeting. The meeting delayed the start of practice.

    “When it happened, there’s a thousand emotions going through your mind,” Texans left tackle Duane Brown said. “Obviously, one of the emotions is to leave the building immediately. We decided to go to work. The situation’s not over. It’s something that we’ll reconvene and talk about again, but we had practice today.”

    O’Brien said he’s for his players.

    “I’m 100 percent with these players,” O’Brien said. “I love these players, I love this coaching staff. We will show up in Seattle and play. We will play very hard. Seattle is a great football team with a great coaching staff. But we will be there when the ball is kicked off in Seattle.”

    Brown said he “can’t stay quiet about it.”

    The Texans players have not decided what they’ll do for the national anthem but Brown is speaking out. “I think it was ignorant,” Brown said. “I think it was embarrassing. I think it angered a lot of players, including myself. We put our bodies and minds on the line every time we step on that field, and to use an analogy of inmates in prison, that’s disrespectful. That’s how I feel about it.”

    When asked if Brown would consider not playing on Sunday because of McNair’s comments, he said he wasn’t sure.

    “This game, this locker room, this field that we play on isn’t just about him,” Brown said. “So it’s a lot of factors you have to consider when you step on that field. Definitely something that myself, and I think a lot of people in there, have to consider going forward.

    Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said the players were looking forward to change.

    “From a player’s perspective, I think we’ve done a great job of trying to work in a collaborative manner with the league to really come up with solutions, to move forward and create some real change, and I don’t see that changing,” he said. “Obviously, his comments will represent him, but from a player’s standpoint, we’re focused on our goals, we feel like we still have an opportunity to move forward with whoever is interested in doing that, and so hopefully we can get that same type of commitment from those in league leadership.

    “That’s our goal. It’s not to appease one another, it’s not to change someone’s personal opinion, it’s just to get some actual work done and change done. That’s what our focus is going to be. Obviously you have quite a few different comments come from different owners, but I feel like players have been very, very diligent in making sure that our message has been one that we want to continue to push forward, that we want to continue to collaborate and move forward. So hopefully we can get to that point.”

    Other players and notables took to social media regarding the incident.

    Kelley Evans is a digital producer at Andscape. She is a food passionista, helicopter mom and an unapologetic Southerner who spends every night with the cast of The Young and the Restless by way of her couch.

    This Story Tagged: NFL Houston Texans Bob McNair