In the wake of the current issues between the President of the United States and the NFL, league commissioner Roger Goodell praised the community service work done by players.
Last week, President Trump criticized players who knelt during the national anthem, called them sons of bitches and called for ownership to fire players who so protest. Following those remarks, a significant number of players knelt during the national anthem, a protest began last year to bring light to police brutality and racial injustice, and some teams linked arms in a show of solidarity on Sunday.
Goodell issued a statement in response to the president’s remarks. It part the statement read: “Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”
The Falcons are one of the NFL’s most active teams in the community.
“I’ve been doing that,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “We’ve been doing that as an organization. That is nothing new.”
Just last week, the Falcons held their 10th annual “Hometown Huddle” event when the entire team, all 53 players, went to different sites to do community service. Members of the team visited Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, public schools and police and fire stations around the city.
Every Tuesday, Falcons players do community service. Here’s a list of the events the Falcons have recently hosted, just during training camp, with player involvement:
Tuesday, September 5
Desmond Trufant participated in an NFL FLAG promotional video shoot. The video will be shared with all 159 schools in the state of Georgia participating in the Rise Up! 159 movement. Flag football kits and Falcons gear funded by the Arthur M. Blank Foundation will be provided.
Ricardo Allen, Taylor Gabriel, Ben Garland, C.J. Goodwin and Brian Poole participated in a My Football Values public service video shoot. The videos will be dispersed across the nation in the spring via the NFL in the hometown of each player to promote youth and high school football.
Deion Jones and Keanu Neal spoke to the Booker T. Washington High School football team about the importance of being a student-athlete. Students asked the players questions about their upbringing, how they got where they are today and the importance of school.
Vic Beasley threw out the first pitch at the Atlanta Braves game in honor of the Rally Foundation and Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Beasley spent time with children and their families in the stands.
Tuesday, September 19
The entire roster participated in Hometown Huddle. Players were split into different community activities at 12 locations across metro Atlanta.
Monday, September 25
Daniel Brunskill, Ben Garland, Andy Levitre, Alex Mack, Austin Pasztor and Wes Schweitzer attended the Garth Brooks Foundation Dinner at Hal's Steakhouse in Buckhead. The dinner was an opportunity for the players to learn about Garth Brooks' foundation and what they could do to support kids and organizations in metro Atlanta.
Andre Roberts participated in Battle of the Badges. Hall and Gwinnett County Police and Fire Stations competed in a flag football tournament at the Indoor Training Facility in Flowery Branch. Roberts served as a coach for the teams.
Tuesday, September 26
Grady Jarrett hosted NFL Character Playbook Live in the Georgia Force team meeting room at the Atlanta Falcons training facility. Grady interacted with students from Clayton and Dekalb Counties via webcam streamed live to listen to him educate students on character and anti-bullying.
Matt Bosher participated in a PLAY 60 visit at New Holland Elementary School in Gainesville. Bosher presented a grant check to the school and ran drills in the PLAY 60 camp.
Ben Garland, Sharrod Neasman and Kemal Ishmael attend the PLAY 60 Character Camp at Gainesville High School. Players spoke to students on the importance of character and ran PLAY 60 drills.
Matt Bryant hosted six TAPS (fallen hero) families to an evening at Zoo Atlanta. Bryant treated the families to a private tour, animal encounters and dinner.
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