The NFL promotes politics on clothes and in the end zones, but when it comes to players doing so, it’s a no go.
Muslim players found this out the hard way earlier this month when they were fined for writing messages on their eye black, an apparent violation of league rules.
‘If you’re going to pull down the messaging, pull it all down.’
Arizona Cardinals defensive back Kei’Trel Clark wrote, “Glory Be 2 God …,” with a peace sign in the middle, while Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined for having the name of a deceased Palestinian child.
Both were fined for displaying personal messages, but one former NFL player turned Christian minister says they should have the right to do so.
Former Minnesota Vikings defensive back Jack Brewer told OutKick he thought it was “disgusting” for the NFL to fine players for writing religious messages on their equipment.
“If someone’s writing things across their uniform or putting it out there on top of their helmet, that’s a different story,” Brewer said. “But the eye black — think back to Tim Tebow and many, many other athletes, myself. We would write stuff on our tapes, on our forearms. We would write stuff on our eye black.”
Brewer revealed that he spoke with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., about the issue, discussing the players’ freedom of speech and employee rights.
“When you start talking about freedom of speech in this country and you start talking about employees’ rights in this country, it’s a big deal,” Brewer explained. “As a Christian man, I’m not going to stand for that. And as a former NFL player, I’m not going to stand for that.”
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Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images
Brewer said that players of any religion should be protected from being fined for displaying messages such as those from Clark and Al-Shaair; both are Muslim.
Much of the former player’s argument centered around the fact that the NFL already has significant political messaging around the sport, such as gay pride merchandise and anti-racism messaging in the end zones.
“If you’re going to pull down the messaging, pull it all down, but don’t pick and choose,” Brewer said.
He added, “You cannot treat people differently based upon whatever it is you want to promote.”
Brewer argued that the NFL, through all its different statements, “cannot pick and choose” which messages it wants its players to be a part of.
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Jack Brewer 2004. Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
The players who were fined seemed to be in direct violation of Rule 5, Section 4, Article 8 of the NFL rulebook, which states, “Players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages” during game day when the player is visible to the stadium or television audience.
For Clark, his fine may have come as a surprise given that he had worn religious messaging on his eye black in September 2025 that read, “Inshallah …,” one of many ways the player expresses his Muslim faith publicly.
“The NFL treated Clark’s gratitude to God, as expressed in four words, as a punishable personal message,” Brewer said in a letter, per OutKick. “This fine represents an action that strikes at the heart of religious liberty and sends a chilling message to every person of faith in professional sports.”
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