Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe did not beat around the bush on Thursday’s episode of Skip & Shannon: Undisputed on FS1. He said that Saints players will never look at Drew Brees the same again after the quarterback answered a question about players protesting racial injustice by implying that kneeling in protest was “disrespecting the flag.”
Brees was being interviewed by Yahoo! Finance’s Daniel Roberts when he made the statement. The video was posted on Wednesday.
“I don’t know what Drew’s going to do, but he probably should just go ahead and retire now,” Sharpe said. “He will never be the same.”
Brees almost immediately came under heavy fire from teammates and league veterans alike. The reaction proves Sharpe might be on to something in his assessment of how Brees will be received in a locker room.
“Take it from a guy that has been a leader in the locker room for a number of years. What he said, they will never look at him the same because he spoke his heart.”
Drew Brees has since issued an apology noting that he “missed the mark” in his statement. He said that his words “lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy.” He said that any belief that he is racist or not an ally to the cause of racial equality “could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character.”
Sharpe called the apology “meaningless” and says that Saints players “know he spoke his heart the very first time around.”
NBC has already signed a deal with Drew Brees that will see him join the network’s broadcast team when he retires from football. NBC has not made a statement about Brees’s remarks and whether or not they might effect the deal.
