San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid knelt during the national anthem Sunday before a preseason matchup against the Vikings. He appeared to be the only 49ers player to do so though at least four teammates -- Marquise Goodwin, Tim Hightower, Dontae Johnson and Eli Harold -- stood while putting their hands on Reid's shoulder.
Eric Reid kneels during the national anthem with support from his teammates. pic.twitter.com/pE4JmvPpAO
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) August 28, 2017
Reid also knelt during the 2016 season after former teammate Colin Kaepernick became the first player to do so as a protest against social injustice.
As recently as two weeks ago, Reid said he had no plans to take a knee again in 2017, even despite the recent violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It doesn't change my plans [to not take a knee]," Reid said at the time, via SFGate.com's Eric Branch. "It's important to discuss the issues that we have in our country. I think it's becoming more and more apparent. Maybe people didn't see what the black community saw when me and Colin were doing our protests, and other players were doing [their] protests, last year. I think it's more apparent now after this past weekend."
Neither Reid nor any of his 49ers teammates knelt during the team's first two preseason games.
