On Monday, the NFL Players Association has filed two claims on behalf of Eric Reid, the former San Francisco 49ers free agent safety. Last week, Eric had filed a collusion grievance against the NFL as he believes that teams in the league are refusing to sign him in as he has protested during the national anthem ceremonies.
The union has filed a non-injury grievance and a system arbitrator case on behalf of Reid which is separate from the collusion grievance Reid and his attorney Mark Geragos filed against the league last week. The NFLPA’s non-injury grievance is specific to Reid’s free agent visits while the general system arbitrator case alleges that any team which asks prospective signees on whether they will be protesting during the national anthem in bad faith negotiation.
The statement released by the NFLPA does not mention any specific team or teams in specific, but it is reported that Mike Brown, the Cincinnati Bengals owner has asked Reid during his free agent visits with the Bengals on whether he has any plans to continue the protest during the anthem.
In 2016, Reid joined Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers teammate when Kaepernick had begun the movement to protest the social injustice during the pregame national anthem and carried on the protests last year. However, Reid said earlier in this season that he does not plan on continuing with the protests anymore.
The collusion grievance case was filed by Reid last week with the help from Geragos; the same attorney Kaepernick has hired for his collusion grievance case against the NFL. But Monday’s NFLPA’s filings are separate. The non-injury grievance case filed by the union on Monday is based on its belief that the individual club national anthem policies violate the collective bargaining agreement, which does not specifically grant the teams a right to create their policies. The league states only that players should stand for the national anthem.
