Mike Evans indicates on Instagram he didn't vote before protesting Donald Trump

An old saying was tossed around plenty before the recent presidential election, and perhaps even more so after it: If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

But that didn’t stop one prominent NFL player from doing just that — protesting the results of Donald Trump becoming the president-elect — despite indicating that he did not vote in the election. According to a report from the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans opted not to vote as well, despite protesting Trump prior to Sunday’s game.

Evans took a knee before kickoff against the Chicago Bears and said he continues to do so as long as Trump is the president-elect, making clear his intentions clear about his kneeling.

“If this happens, then America’s not right right now. I said this a long time ago. When [Trump] ran, I thought it was a joke. The joke continues,” Evans said. “I’m not a political person that much, but I got common sense. And I know when something’s not right.”

The genesis of the report is from teammate Louis Murphy’s Instagram page, when he asked his followers the prior week if they had voted or not.

It appears Evans erased his comment on Murphy’s page. Here’s how it currently looks:

As the Times story notes, Evans is actively registered to vote in Texas, not Florida, with no listed party affiliation. He wasn’t asked by reporters after the game whether he had voted.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he did not vote, and Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel wrote about how it was a bad look for him to take another knee on Election Day. And like Kaepernick, if Evans didn’t either, it would diminish his stance somewhat.

The point isn’t that one vote in Texas wouldn’t have affected the outcome of Trump beating Hillary Clinton; it’s that Evans apparently didn’t put in enough effort to lend his voice for something he said he has been against for a long time. As a result, it’s a lot easier to dismiss Evans’ pre-game display than it would have been had he taken advantage of his voting right.

(h/t PFT)

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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