Michael Thomas masterminds "What If I was George Floyd" Video, NFL & Goodell responds.

New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas headways video featuring multiple NFL Stars challenging the NFL to make a statement on peaceful protests against police brutality.

"So on behalf of the National Football League this is what we, the players, would like to hear you say..." - NFL Players in "What if I was George Floyd video.

New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas has used his platform to speak out this week against racism, systemic oppression of African-Americans, and police brutality. Thomas was a key organizer of the players' message to the league this week. The NFL record holder for receptions in a season reached connected with Bryndon Minter, an employee of the NFL, and a member of the NFL’s social media team to help organize and execute their message.

“I decided, Hey, I am just going to go rogue here,” said Minter. Michael Thomas and Minter linked via Instagram on Wednesday and quickly began pre-production on the video. Thomas, Minter, and a member of the NFL’s social media team drafted the script while Thomas reached out to some of the league’s biggest stars. Players quickly sent in video clips; then, Minter edited together the 70-second video. The video now holds over 2 million views on Twitter and sparked a response from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Frustrated with the league's response to recent events, an NFL employee went "rogue" to present the idea for the "I am George Floyd" video to @Cantguardmike, who helped write the script and lined up other star players to participate https://t.co/SLIX2mGxgc

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) June 6, 2020

Following the video from NFL stars, the NFL responded with the eighty-second video of Roger Goodell issuing an apology.  “We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.” The video, posted on the NFL’s official Twitter account has over 8 Million views and a common thread in the comments.  Goodell apologized for the league's failure to acknowledge a problem and support his peaceful protest. However, the commissioner has yet to apologize to former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick directly. 

"We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest." - Roger Goodell

We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv

— NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020

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