Nick Bosa Violated NFL Rules With MAGA Hat, But Hushing Individual Players’ Political Opinions Isn’t The Answer

Matt Fitzgerald·
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Bosa Sunday Night Football
NBC

You might’ve noticed that after the San Francisco 49ers win on Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, superstar defensive end Nick Bosa crashed Brock Purdy’s postgame interview to show off his “Make America Great Again” hat.

Bosa’s seconds-long gesture triggered a lot of folks, and had people crying out about the comparative injustice of ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem and getting blackballed by the NFL. More on all that jazz in a minute.

SFGate posted about how Bosa’s act was a violation of NFL rules, because as long as players are visible to a television or stadium audience, from pregame festivities to postgame press conferences, they’re not allowed to display any political messaging unless it’s cleared with the league office beforehand. That goes for any “personal messaging,” by the way. Additionally, to quote the rulebook, “such approved items must be modest in size, tasteful, non-commercial, and non-controversial.” You get tagged with a fine otherwise.

Somebody in his camp must’ve told Bosa about all that before he got to his presser, because gone was the hat, and his tone went from playful to austere real quick.

So back to the Kaepernick of it all. He last played in the NFL in 2016, and I believe that he was indeed ostracized for his political beliefs. I don’t agree that his ouster from pro football was solely on the merits of his abilities alone, although it’s not hard to see why wearing police pig socks might cause some tension with the locker room and the front office. He led the 49ers to a Super Bowl berth and another NFC Championship Game. After an 8-8 season, Jim Harbaugh was out, and Kaep and the Niners went 2-6 before he was benched for Blaine Gabbert. The Niners were beset with gross incompetence in the years following. It took until Kyle Shanahan’s third season, when Bosa was drafted No. 2 overall, to turn things around.

The ironic part is, a mere half-decade or so later, a lot of the issues Kaepernick was passionate about were given the green light to be on full display during NFL games. Slogans like “End Racism” and “Black Lives Matter” and “Inspire Change” were on players’ helmets and stenciled in end zones across the league.

I get the inclination to present a “united front” and consistent messaging. That’s the NFL’s prerogative. However, to not allow individual players to have a political voice feels like counterproductive, de facto censorship. I’m not out here advocating for full-blown hate speech or anything. It’s more just confusion as to why players can’t speak for themselves.

The NBA is a lot more progressive on this front. You have the likes of Steph Curry, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers and many others basically giving full-blown endorsements for Kamala Harris without fear of repercussions.

Could Bosa have rocked that MAGA hat if he cleared it with commissioner Roger Goodell first? I doubt the commish would let it fly, but the fact that it’s even a conversation is a problem.

Fair or not, to break this down in the most general overarching terms, the left is viewing the Kaep-Bosa controversy as the NFL endorsing Donald Trump, whereas the right is angry that Bosa is being widely persecuted for his headgear.

And look I get it, the stakes are as high as ever in the NFL. There might be a fear of alienating fans via political messaging from either side of the aisle.

Counterpoint: This is a great opportunity to open things up and normalize NFL stars speaking their mind on politics. Kaepernick’s protests drew extreme reactions. It got to the point where Trump, while in the White House, implored the NFL to blackball others who made political statements in solidarity. That drew the ire of NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and many others.

Jump to more than seven years later. Despite some obvious strides via unified league-wide initiatives, NFL players are still being told as individuals, by and large, to stick to sports.

It’s interesting to me that, even after the NFL approved those aforementioned anti-prejudice slogans in advance of the 2021 season, viewership shot up by 2.2 million, and ratings are now at a nine-year high. Business has boomed overall, too. From when Trump first called for boycotting the NFL, criticized its declining ratings, and blasted those who took a knee for the national anthem in 2017, the salary cap has gone up from $167 million to $255.4 million.

In other words, I have my doubts that, in the long run, political statements will have much of an impact on the NFL’s bottom line unless they devolve into fringe, outlandish, hateful territory.

Another argument I never understand: The notion that athletes and other public figures are so out of touch with common peoples’ experiences, why should anyone listen to them? There’s some truth to that, but first off, last I checked, their vote counts the same as anyone else’s. Secondly, the vast majority of athletes have had to scratch, claw, and dedicate their lives to their craft, often coming from less privileged backgrounds. To make a blanket statement and say no famous person can relate to anyone non-famous from a political standpoint strikes me as a lazy oversimplification.

To me, a stronger case for not listening to athletes on politics is that they are, by necessity, so dialed in to perform at the highest level for a finite window of their careers that they don’t often have the luxury of time to deep dive on all the issues. Even that line of thought has an easy counter, though. Who among us in America does have the time to do all that without getting confused, overwhelmed, or stressed out? Even if you’re more convicted than most in your political beliefs, everyone has blind spots.

There’s such a large spectrum of expressing individual politics that range from Bosa’s quick MAGA hat flash to, I don’t know, going on a minutes-long rant at a podium. If it’s so bothersome to any sect of the media, just don’t cover it. I don’t like the notion that the NFL is telling their players to do the football equivalent of “shut up and dribble” unless unilaterally approved by Roger Goodell to make any kind of statement.

I don’t agree with Nick Bosa’s politics. Despite having personal friends who also align with him, the MAGA movement is just not for me. And let’s face it, I’m among millions of NFL fans who don’t exactly want to give Bosa the benefit of the doubt given what is publicly known about his background:

Nevertheless, in spite of whatever intentions Bosa had to create a stir with his MAGA hat, I wouldn’t want to limit his ability to express himself in a civil way. Just like I wouldn’t want to prohibit another NFL player from rocking a “Harris-Walz” hat and voicing their opinion. There will be inevitable blowback on both sides. That comes with the territory of being a public figure in the first place.

Whether Bosa were to expound on his support for Trump in an eloquent way, or he came across as a completely ignorant buffoon, or anywhere in between, he should have the liberty to speak his mind on principle. I feel like it’d be an educational experience for anyone who listens, regardless of the outcome.

The goal here wouldn’t be for press conferences, pregame warmups, or on-field postgame interviews to morph into politically-driven Socratic seminars. The goal would be for improved dialogue, understanding, and common ground to be a byproduct of NFL players having the freedom to make their political stances known if they so desire.

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