Tre Boston: Panthers Did a 'Full 180' on Players Protesting Racial Injustice

Carolina Panthers safety Tre Boston, who returned to the team ahead of the 2019 season, revealed the atmosphere around the franchise has changed since David Tepper assumed ownership from Jerry Richardson in 2018.

Boston said on Monday's episode of RapSheet and Friends that Panthers representatives told him the organization made a "full 180 from where we were."

Carolina selected Boston in the fourth round of the 2014 draft, and he spent three seasons with the team, which included the beginning of the movement of kneeling during the national anthem to protest against police brutality and racial injustice.

Richardson's thoughts on the protest movement were clear. In September 2017, he issued a statement saying that "politicizing the game is damaging and takes the focus off the greatness of the game itself and those who play it."

The Charlotte Observer's Joseph Person reported Richardson held a meeting with Panthers players around the same time "amid mounting frustrations among some players who feel Richardson's strongly held beliefs do not allow them to join the growing protests around the NFL."

"The Observer first reported the meeting, which was prompted by increasing tensions among players frustrated by restrictions implemented by Richardson and concerned about possible repercussions should they speak out on social issues, according to sources," per Person.

Boston was no longer with the team during those discussions with Richardson, but the 27-year-old had voiced his frustration shortly after a Charlotte, North Carolina, police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott in September 2016 while a member of the Panthers.

Boston was waived the following offseason.

There was no suggestion the decision was related to his speaking out, but Marcus Ball, who appeared in one game for the Panthers in 2016, wrote a piece for Sports Illustrated in January 2018 questioning whether he was cut for making a gesture of solidarity during the national anthem.

Richardson announced in December 2017 he would sell the team. The step came following a report from Sports Illustrated's L. Jon Wertheim and Viv Bernstein detailing settlements Richardson had paid out to settle allegations of sexually and racially inappropriate behavior at the workplace. 

Tepper formally purchased the Panthers in July 2018 for nearly $2.3 billion. That September, he struck a different tone from Richardson when supported the players' right to engage in social activism.

Boston originally re-signed with Carolina in 2019. He went on to start all 16 games last season and re-upped with the team on a three-year contract in March.