“I walked into the facility, walked upstairs and, as I expected, I was told I was being released and my contract was being terminated,” he writes. “I questioned the motives immediately. I had put in a lot of work for the organization, and now I was being abruptly released? “Why? What did I do?” I asked. I didn’t get much of an answer.”
Ball said he asked and was told Panthers owner Jerry Richardson had nothing to do with his release. Ball was terminated from the practice squad in October 2016.
“I had my doubts,” said Ball, who played five games with San Francisco in the 2016 season and won a CFL Grey Cup championship with Toronto in November. “I know Richardson didn’t want players following Colin Kaepernick’s lead and protesting. I knew he didn’t want players wearing dreadlocks, which I did. Same for sporting tattoos. But what could I do? I was a practice-squad player. On my level, you don’t challenge the Boss Man.”
Ball said all these feelings came rushing back to him when he read about the allegations against Richardson, which may have led to him selling the team when the season ends. Those allegations include, according to a Sports Illustrated story, Richardson using a racial slur towards an African-American scout.
“We know that if even if Jerry Richardson sells the team immediately, the NFL investigation continues. Which it should,” Ball writes. “A lot of people have their questions, and they deserve answers. But I do, too. I feel like I was screwed out of a job, a career and my lifelong dream, because … why? The owner doesn’t want a black player raising a finger? I know he’s the boss. But is that fair?”
Article Appeared @https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/former-panther-believes-he-was-fired-because-of-national-anthem-protest/ar-BBI1j71?li=BBnbfcL