Anquan Boldin: 'Insane' to suggest Players Coalition sold out to NFL

Lorenzo Reyes | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Giants fire Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese SportsPulse: NFL insider Jarrett Bell discusses the major shakeups taking place for the New York Giants.

Anquan Boldin, one of the members of the Players Coalition who finalized a deal with the NFL to secure millions of dollars pledged to social causes, delivered an impassioned rebuttal to criticism that the group's constituents had sold out.

“First of all, I think the fact that people say players sold out is actually funny to me,” Boldin said Monday on a conference call with reporters. “You have guys who have actually been doing work. I don’t know how much more we can stress this point: Guys have actually been doing work, minus the NFL. Guys have given their own money. Guys have lobbied on the Hill. Guys have met with senators and congressmen. Guys have done PSAs. We’ve done forums. We’ve done op-eds. we’ve gotten behind legislation that still needs to be pushed. Guys have done work.

“So for people to say that guys sold out because the NFL has given us a larger platform to amplify our voice is insane. The NFL didn’t have to do what it did, because you can’t name me not one other league or entity that has taken the concerns of its players and put resources behind it. You’ve seen nothing done from the NBA, MLB, WNBA, NCAA – you name it. Nobody has stepped up to the plate.

“Instead of people celebrating and getting behind the work people are doing and the collaboration between the NFL and its players as opposed to trying to tear it down, is ridiculous. My hope is that the media will stop feeding into that. Because this country has a real issue, and the only way this issue is going to get solved is to fight together, as opposed to fighting against one another.”

More: 40 things we learned in Week 13 of the 2017 NFL season

More: NFL playoff picture after Week 13 games

Boldin, who retired earlier this season to focus his time on social causes, joined Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins – another key leader of the Coalition – and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the unprecedented deal, which is going to commit an estimated $89 million over seven years to various causes.

Much of the criticism of the agreement came after multiple players, including 49ers safety Eric Reid, announced they were stepping away from the Coalition, citing a difference of opinion. Reid told Slate that he had heard the league would be diverting funds for breast cancer awareness and the "Salute to Service" campaign to fulfill the pledge, a claim that NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart denied.

“That’s not true. We’re going to continue with our Salute to Service initiative, which gets bigger every year. We’re going to continue with our cancer awareness initiatives. The resources for this will not impact the resources of either of those programs that have been called out.”

Reid also said that in a text message conversation, Jenkins asked whether Reid would consider ending his protest of kneeling during the national anthem if the league approved the deal with the Players Coalition.

“It was about moving forward in good faith,” Jenkins said. “If the league were to take that first step for us, would we be able to move forward, knowing that this is something we would have to build on over time, and if they were comfortable with that. I wasn’t suggesting that he ended his protest or not. I just wanted to know from a player standpoint what were our intentions as we got closer and closer to this decision moving forward.”

After the deal was announced, Jenkins, who had raised his fist during the anthem dating back to last season, ended his protest.

What’s uncertain is where the league and the Players Coalition go from here. Lockhart said the NFL would be creating a committee to oversee the funds and the social initiatives being pursued.

“There were some players who had a difference of opinion than those guys in the coalition,” Boldin said. “The most important thing is we have the same common goal in mind, and that’s to deal with racial inequality in this country. Sometimes people have different ways of going about things, and you don’t necessarily agree on the process. But the most important thing is that we all want to see this work pushed forward. So just because a couple guys walked away because they had a difference of opinion doesn’t mean guys don’t want to see this work done.”

Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.

PHOTOS: Best of NFL Week 13