The Eagles’ Chris Long is playing football for free this year and he has no regrets.
He says, “I always thought maybe it would be cool to play for free. I thought it would be a personal test to see if I’m really the guy I’d like to be.”
Long gave up his first 6 paychecks this season to fund a scholarship for students in his hometown of Charlottesville, VA. Now he’s using the other 10 to launch ‘Pledge 10 for Tomorrow’, a campaign that will help needy kids in Philly, Boston, & St. Louis pursue education. Long made $1.5M in guaranteed money this season, between his base salary and signing bonuses. He’s also received another $180K in matching donations from fans, fellow players, and private businesses.
Long is one the NFL’s most outspoken figures on social issues and he even came to the defence of Colin Kaepernick when his charity work was directly compared to Kaepernick’s activism.
He tweeted(JOEL9ONE), “ZERO interest in being used as the anti-Colin. I support Colin’s right to protest, and what he’s protesting. He deserves a job in the NFL. He’s donated as much $ as I have to social causes.
He also tweeted(JOEL9ONE), “So if you like me all the sudden because you saw on the news that I do a lot of charity work and I’d like to improve America, you should probably give Colin and others a second look.
