Three of the players whose names appeared on an August memo seeking a push from the NFL into social activism struck a conciliatory tone Thursday and said there was no bigger platform from which to achieve their goals.
Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins called it an "opportunity for us, being a sport that brings people together naturally to also use that ability to actually effectuate some real change."
"One of the main things for us is changing the narrative and controlling the narrative," said Jenkins, who joined Eagles receiver Torrey Smith and Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett in commenting a day after news broke of the memo, which outlined a series of goals it hoped to achieve in conjunction with the NFL, including designating November "a month of Unity" where individual teams would "engage and impact the community in their market.