NFL player Eric Reid reportedly filed a collusion grievance on Wednesday against the league after he has remained unsigned following his decision to protest during the national anthem in recent years.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported that Reid has retained the same attorney in his case as former teammate Colin Kaepernick, who has also alleged league owners have colluded to keep him off a team.
{mosads}Reid was one of the first players to kneel alongside Kaepernick, the ex-San Francisco 49ers quarterback who in 2016 started kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequity in the U.S.
Kaepernick has remained a free agent since the end of the 2016 season.
Reid spent the last five seasons playing for the 49ers, but his contract expired at the end of last season. After he initially went unsigned, he said he felt teams were avoiding him due to his decision to protest.
“The notion that I can be a great signing for your team for cheap, not because of my skill set but because I’ve protested systemic oppression, is ludicrous,” Reid tweeted in March.
He added in a separate tweet that he believed owners were the reason he remained unsigned.
Reid has knelt during the anthem for most of the past two seasons. Last year, dozens of players joined in on the protest, with several routinely kneeling during the anthem each week.
The protests hit their peak after President Trump said during a political rally in Alabama that players who knelt during the anthem should be fired. Throughout the season, the president urged NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to punish players who protested.