NFL wife claims all-black Raiders offensive line caused anti-protest player injury

Former radio host Miko Grimes has accused the National Football League’s (NFL) Oakland Raiders offensive line of letting a teammate get injured due to his attitude towards ‘take a knee’ anthem protests.

Grimes, the wife of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes, said on radio show ‘The Breakfast Club’ on Tuesday that the Raider’s offensive line had “allowed” quarterback Derek Carr to sustain a back injury several weeks ago because of his opposition to national anthem demonstrations.

“The reason Derek Carr got injured is because the Raiders offensive line allowed him to get injured because he was against them protesting,” Grimes said.

“And they had a fight in the locker room before that Monday night game with the Redskins. They were fighting in the locker room, and that’s the only all-black offensive line in the NFL is the Raiders.

“Derek Carr is a Bible thumper to the fullest. And so he was basically trying to force the players to read the Bible before the game, and do all this stuff, and they were like, ‘No, that’s you.’” Grimes speculated.

“And so he was so upset about it when the whole offensive line said they were going to kneel. He was like, ‘No, you’re not kneeling. This is America, you’re going to stand for the flag.’ And they got in a fight in the locker room. So when they came out to play, they basically had a plan,” she added.

READ MORE: Companies threaten to pull NFL advertising if network continues to cover protests

While the majority of his teammates take a knee during the playing of the national anthem before games in protests originally instigated by Colin Kaepernick last year, Carr is known for his preference to stand and pray instead.

Carr injured his back on October 1 in the Raiders' game against the Denver Broncos, not against the Redskins as Grimes had said. His injury proved not to be serious and the quarterback returned to action after missing just one game.

Several Raiders players have since posted statements on social media rubbishing Grimes’ allegations.

Carr himself posted a cryptic tweet on Tuesday which was a possible response to Grimes' claims; simply a highlighted proverb.

Donald Penn, the Raiders’ offensive tackle who, according to Grimes, was partly responsible for Carr’s injury, denied the accusations saying that people invent “crazy” stories to “get some attention.”

“It’s crazy how people will make up lies and tell a story so false and untrue 2 get them some attention I hope it was worth it all lies,” he tweeted. 

Raiders cornerback Antonio Hamilton said that Grimes’ story was completely false except for the part where she calls Carr “a Bible thumper.”