Washington hosts the Cleveland Browns in Week 4, and wide receiver DeSean Jackson is offering up his own form of protest against police brutality. Jackson had a pair of cleats customized with caution tape drawn on them. He will wear the cleats during pre-game warmups before switching back to his regular cleats for the game. Players can wear anything they want in pre-game warmups, but once they take the field for the game, there are specific rules regarding the uniform.
TMZ Sports had this picture of the cleats:
Desean Jackson -- Protesting Police Killings ... With Custom Cleats https://t.co/8V0oAsz4Ih
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) October 1, 2016
On Sunday, Jackson and the team both issued statements, which Adam Schefter posted:
Jackson: “Today is the start of my attempts to be part of a solution and start dialogue about the senseless killings of both citizens and police. I have chosen to wear these cleats in pregame today to use my platform as a pro athlete to add to this discussion. This isn’t meant to be any kind of protest against the good men and women in law enforcement in this country. I just want to express my concern in a peaceful and productive way about issues that are currently impacting our country.”
Washington: “We stand in support of both DeSean and the law enforcement community. We have great respect for law enforcement and the sacrifices they make each and every day to protect and serve our communities. We continue to have open dialogue with our players about issues that are important to them and support their efforts to bring awareness to those issues when done in a responsible manner.”