Washington (CNN) Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said he wants professional athletes who kneel during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice to tell him who they think the President should pardon next.

On Thursday, a group of NFL players responded to the President in a New York Times an op-ed . But the athletes aren't giving Trump a list of names. Instead, they call for broader changes to the criminal justice system.

"A handful of pardons will not address the sort of systemic injustice that NFL players have been protesting," the authors -- Doug Baldwin of the Seattle Seahawks, Anquan Boldin, a former NFL wide receiver, Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles and Benjamin Watson of the New Orleans Saints -- write.

"If President Trump thinks he can end these injustices if we deliver him a few names, he hasn't been listening to us."

The athletes give Trump credit for his recent decision to commute the sentence of first-time, nonviolent drug offender Alice Marie Johnson. Then they call on the President to issue a "blanket pardon" for individuals like Johnson.

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