Drew Brees on possible return of NFL kneeling protests: ‘I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag’

Drew Brees joins Yahoo Finance's On the Move panel to discuss the possible return of kneeling during the national anthem in the NFL as protests erupt across the United States.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: You are a leader. You took the knee several years ago, along with all of your teammates, but you've also talked about that sometimes protests or demonstrations, for instance in the middle of the national anthem, might be divisive. So what is the action we should take now?

DREW BREES: Well, that's not an easy question to answer. But at the end of the day, I think my response via social media today was basically to reinforce my belief that God created us all equal, and I think that we all have a responsibility to love each other and to respect each other. And I try to live my life by two basic Christian fundamentals, and that is love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. And I think that we accomplish greater things as a community, as a society, and as a country when we do it together. And I think that we are all equipped with great talents, abilities, and strengths, and we can use that with each other and for each other. I think we can accomplish some amazing things.

And obviously, these are trying times during our country, certainly coming out of this COVID crisis and then entering into another crisis or really these two compounding with each other. I think we all recognize the changes that need to take place, and I do think it's about action versus just-- you know, everybody is going to social media and kind of saying their piece. Obviously, there are riots and there are protests, and people are certainly out there showing their frustration as well. But I think at the end of the day, we need to find ways to work together to provide opportunities for one another to continue to move our country forward to a bigger and better place.

DAN ROBERTS: Drew, Dan Roberts here. Thanks for joining us. If we stick with this topic right now, you know, everyone is looking back now at Kaepernick's protests from a few years ago. And obviously, they were always about police brutality, and now it's coming back to the fore. And a lot of people expect that we will see players kneeling again when the NFL season starts. I'm curious how you think the NFL will and should respond to that. And of course, you're such a leader in the league, what is your responsibility as a leader in times like this for the rest of your teammates and players in the league?

DREW BREES: Well, I will I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. Let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers who fought for this country during World War II, one in the army and one in the Marine Corps, both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place.

So every time I stand with my hand over my heart, looking at that flag and singing the national anthem that's what I think about. And in many cases, it brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed, not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the Civil Rights Movements of the '60s and everyone-- and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point.

And is everything right with our country right now? No, it's not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better, and that we are all part of the solution.