When the Houston Texans acquired receiver Kenny Stills from the Miami Dolphins via trade, one of the bigger questions wasn’t how he would fit into the receiving corps, who he would supplant between Will Fuller and Keke Coutee. Rather, it was how the club would work with a player who has still been very vocal about the issues surrounding the national anthem kneeling controversy.
Jay-Z, after his Roc Nation landed a deal with the NFL, said they were past kneeling. Stills disagreed and kept kneeling.
Coach Bill O’Brien answered questions about Stills and his continued kneeling when he met with the media Monday at NRG Stadium.
“Relative to any social justice initiatives you know my history here with the Houston Texans is I love the players,” O’Brien said. “I have the players’ back. We communicate about those things. I’m not going to get into any discussions I would have with any player about those things. But I support the players in social justice initiatives.”
Whether or not Stills continues to kneel while playing for the Texans, a franchise that saw all but 10 players kneel in 2017 and allegedly won’t sign players who do kneel, remains to be seen.
On June 5, 2018, when O’Brien was asked to comment about the Philadelphia Eagles refusing to go to the White House as part of celebrating their Super Bowl LII win, O’Brien used the question to talk about what his current players were doing to help the community, including then-tight end Stephen Anderson’s “Elevate Our Youth” foundation, linebacker Whitney Mercilus’ “With Merci Foundation,” and tackles Kendall Lamm and Julién Davenport going on ride-a-longs with the Houston Police Department.
“To me, that’s what we need to talk about more of these days,” O’Brien said on June 5. “I think the people that disagree, just like we do here in our organization, we need to get in the same room and hear the different opinions instead of tweeting about it.”
While the conversations behind the scenes may not for public consumption, the Texans and Stills will attempt to get on the same page regarding social justice efforts.
