Anquan Boldin said the violent, racially charged protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, caused him to re-assess his priorities and led to the Buffalo Bills receiver's decision to retire after 14 NFL seasons.
In interview Monday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Boldin said he's "uncomfortable" with how divided the nation is and wants to dedicate his entire focus to humanitarian and criminal justice work.
Boldin spoke a day after abruptly informing the Bills he was retiring a little under two weeks after signing a one-year contract. Saying it wasn't a "fly-by-night decision," Boldin says he gradually came to the realization that his off-the-field work outweighed football.
The NFL's 2015 Walter Payton Man of the Year, Boldin oversees the South Florida-based Q81 Foundation, which offers educational support for underprivileged children. He has become an advocate for criminal justice reform since his cousin was killed by a plain-clothes police officer along the side of a Florida highway in October 2015.
