Less than a week after a dozen Minnesota Vikings players attended George Floyd's local memorial, another NFL team has stepped up to pay in-person respects to the late Minneapolis man, who died on Memorial Day at the hands of a police officer. As NFL Network's James Palmer first reported, Bill O'Brien and J.J. Watt were among a sizable contingent of Houston Texans who attended Tuesday's funeral for Floyd, who called the city home for most of his life.
Joining O'Brien and Watt at Fountain of Praise church were team owner Cal McNair and his wife, Hannah; offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, front-office executive Jack Easterby and former Texans defensive lineman D.J. Reader.
As ProFootballTalk noted, O'Brien had previously told the Texans the team would not be holding any activities on Tuesday in order to allow any staff or players to attend the memorial service.
The group visit to Floyd's service comes days after Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson marched alongside peaceful protesters in Houston, where thousands demonstrated to honor Floyd and call for racial justice. Watson was also recently part of the video of NFL stars that called on the league to explicitly condemn racism, acknowledge America's systematic oppression of black people and admit wrongdoing in regards to "silencing" peaceful player protests of recent years.
"I think everyone has to admit their mistakes along the way," O'Brien told ESPN recently. "We all have to stand up and understand that what is going on in this country right now is wrong. It's wrong. Relative to many, many things. It's not just police brutality, although that's what we're talking about right now. It's corporate America. It's professional sports. It's the medical area. It's the legal area. We all have to do our part. We all have to do it now."
