This looks like and admission that the kneeling players are still acting on the 'hands up, don't shoot' lie

NY Times Op-ed:

Football Players Are Protesting Police Violence, Not the Anthem

There are consequences to mischaracterizing the reason players aren’t standing.

They are still picking the wrong time and place for their demonstration and they are harming their own credibility by still pushing the police violence meme.  Most black men who meet violent ends do so at the hands of another black man and not the police.  The "hand up, don't shoot" lie was exposed by the Obama justice department yet the players still act as if it is credible.