Houston Texans: Bob McNair’s legacy is honorable yet quite complicated

McNair meets controversy

Up until one ill-fated day back in October 2017 at the NFL owner’s meeting, Bob was mostly seen in a largely-positive light.

He was weighing-in on the hot button concern of the national anthem protests that were occurring in regard to myriad of continuous news/occurrences of police violence against minorities, a movement spearheaded by Colin Kaepernick back in the 2016 season.  It inspired others — most notably by former teammate Eric Reid — to join him in the movement to which many saw as a disrespect to a moment many hold near and dear.

At the time, NFL owners were weighing on whether there should be an official NFL national anthem policy as there was no exact language in regard to how players should conduct themselves during those silent couple of minutes.

McNair stated that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison,” which created shock waves among the NFL, fans and even those not fond of sports as people thought those comments were wildly insensitive, especially with the reasoning behind the protests to begin with.

Bob later apologized for his comments but then recanted as recently as this past April by admitting to the Wall Street Journal that he had regrets in doing so because he felt he had nothing to apologize for.

I personally stand and place my hand over my heart for the national anthem when warranted but player’s rights to express themselves in peaceful manner should not be abridged.

This is certainly why the NFL tried to institute a policy at the beginning of this season but it was quickly scrapped from enforcement after heavy resistance from the NFL Player’s Association.  The policy remains on hold but it’s highly-doubtful that it will gain traction unless some serious compromises on both ends are brokered.

The Duane Brown situation

It’s hard not to reminisce on how quickly things soured with Duane Brown, stemming from a failed drug test in 2015 — to which he appealed and was able to avert a 10-game suspension — to the dispute he had with his contract as early as the end of the 2016 season.

Brown had torn his quadriceps muscle in the season previous but yet he was still requesting his deal be re-worked with more guaranteed money.  I’m sure the Texans obviously wanted to see if he’d be able to come back from injury before giving him any money but they held the cards because if he were to get hurt again, they could comfortably cut him without any risk to the bottom line.  Although I wanted Brown to let bygones be bygones and return, I totally get that it was all about business and he had to do what he had to do.

He was nearing toward the back-end of a six-year, $53.4 million deal with the Houston Texans and none of the money was guaranteed.  Brown decided not to show up for training camp as well as through the first six weeks of 2017 season before returning against the Seattle Seahawks, to whom he was eventually traded to the following week.  That was the boiled-over result of a tumultuous relationship with the team’s front office in his last few seasons of tenure.

He obviously felt underappreciated and it’s unclear if he felt that way because of either how differently his tenured counterparts were being treated than him or if he believed it was because of the color of skin, possibly both.  We’ll likely never know the true story from all of what transpired.

Nonetheless, Brown eventually got what he wanted by agreeing to a three-year, $34.5 million deal with $16 million guaranteed this past off season with the Seahawks, making him the 4th-highest paid left tackle in the NFL.

Brown was one of McNair’s most outspoken critics when he made those comments back last October.  With his protests in Week 3 of the 2016 season against the New England Patriots as well as before the start of the game against the Seahawks in his return to the field in Week 6 of last season, that ultimately sealed his fate with the team.

In addition, Brown even alleged two specific incidents where McNair’s comments while addressing the team invoked racism.  One was back in 2008, shortly after the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president in U.S. history; and the other was in 2014, coinciding with when former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was verboten from the NBA for his offensive comments.

I certainly hope relations between the franchise and he are not irreparable and that he someday ends up in the Texans Ring of Honor because he’s truly one of the most tenured and talented players this organization has ever had.

Time has an interesting way of healing things.

Speaking of that, Andre Johnson had considered not attending his own Ring of Honor ceremony because of what was said by McNair but he decided to attend and has since given a nice tribute to McNair via his Twitter account.

On the other hand, Brown has not made mention of McNair’s passing, likely because his negative sentiments of the whole ordeal are still fresh.

With all of what we’ve heard from McNair over the past year, it makes his legacy quite complicated.  It made me seriously wonder who the real Bob McNair was.  I don’t know if he sincerely meant those comments or if he was just reeling from the effects of his illness.  But the fact that he said it still carries weight, they must be interpreted at face value and it will carry a marked tarnish to his legacy.