Malcolm Jenkins said the risk surrounding the coronavirus "has to really be eliminated" before he would be comfortable returning to play this season.

Jenkins appeared on CNN on Thursday morning in his new role as a contributor for the network.

The veteran safety described football as a "nonessential business." He pointed out that "the NBA is a lot different than the NFL because they can actually quarantine all of their players or whoever is going to participate."

"We have over 2,000 players, even more coaches and staff. We can't do that," Jenkins said. "So we'll end up being kind of on this trust system, the honor system, where we just have to hope that guys are social distancing and things like that. And that puts all of us at risk, not only us as players and who's in the building, but when you go home to your families. You know, I have parents that I don't want to get sick.

"And I think until we get to the point where we have protocols in place, and until we get to a place as a country where we feel safe doing it, we have to understand that football is a nonessential business. And so we don't need to do it. And so the risk has to be really eliminated before we -- before I -- would feel comfortable with going back."

Malcolm Jenkins appeared on The Daily Show on Monday and discussed the honest conversation he had with teammate Drew Brees earlier this month.

"I think my interaction with Drew is a microcosm to what we need to do as a country," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he gave Brees an honest account of how he felt when he heard Brees' comments about kneeling during the national anthem, and Brees listened thoughtfully.

"We try to move to a post-racial type of society and move on from our past without actually addressing the history and the way that our past pretty much paints the present," Jenkins said. "And until we change the direction that we’re going, until we change the systems that were put in place in the past, we’ll always be tethered to that. And I think that starts with truth."

Twice this week Donald Trump has brought up Drew Brees and criticized his decision to apologize for equating kneeling during the anthem with disrespect for America.

"I was shocked," Trump said Thursday. "I think he hurt himself very badly and I was going to put out that I think he'll regret that in future years. ... I don't believe he believes his second statement."

Brees' second statement came after several long discussions with teammates and friends around the league.

Spike Lee was the guest speaker on the New Orleans Saints' team Zoom call on Tuesday.

Lee complemented Drew Brees for how he stood up to Donald Trump's criticism following the quarterback's apology for comments criticizing peaceful protest during the national anthem.

Lee then spoke for approximately 45 minutes about his experiences in race relations.

One person on the call told Schefter that the players loved meeting with Lee.

Malcolm Jenkins said the efforts by Roger Goodell and the NFL to support players fighting for social justice have fallen short because they have yet to properly address their handling of Colin Kaepernick.

"I still don't think [the NFL has] gotten it right. Until they apologize, specifically, to Colin Kaepernick, or assign him to a team, I don't think that they will end up on the right side of history," Jenkins, who is the co-founder of the Players Coalition, said Tuesday in an appearance on "CBS This Morning."

"At the end of the day, they've listened to their players, they've donated money, they've created an Inspire Change platform; they've tried to do things up to this point. But it's been one player in particular that they have ignored and not acknowledged, and that's Colin Kaepernick."

Goodell said in a video released Friday that the NFL "condemn[s] racism and the systematic oppression of black people" and that the league was "wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier, and encourage[s] all players to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe that black lives matter."

Shaquille O'Neal spoke to the New Orleans Saints during the call in which Drew Brees issued an apology for his comments about disrespecting the American flag earlier this week.

"About two weeks ago, I was contacted to speak to the Saints players today," O'Neal said.

"Then, this happened. I'm not going to get into because coach (Sean) Payton doesn't really want us to get into it, but I was on the call today when Drew apologized to his teammates, and most of his teammates accepted his apology. They said, 'Drew, we know your character. We know you stepped into some stuff that you can’t get out of, but guess what? We want you to do more, more positive things and less talking.' And they all said, 'We accept your apology.' ... He made a mistake."

Malcolm Jenkins has not spoken publicly since issuing a strong rebuke of Brees on Wednesday, but O'Neal said Jenkins was the first to accept Brees' apology.

Drew Brees has issued an apology for his comments on "disrespecting the flag," saying he "completely missed the mark" on current issues in the United States and that it "breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused."

During an interview with Yahoo! on Wednesday, Brees reiterated his stance that he will "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America." The New Orleans Saints quarterback later told ESPN that he stands with his teammates fighting for racial equality and justice but also with the military, past and present.

In an Instagram post Thursday, Brees said he was apologizing to his friends, teammates, New Orleans, the black community, the NFL community and "anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday."

"In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country," Brees wrote. "They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character."

Drew Brees continues to view a peaceful protest of injustice plaguing Black Americans as disrepectul because it does not conform to his viewpoint. Brees' comments follow days of protests across the United States in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country," said Brees. "Let me just tell what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corp. Both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place. So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ‘60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it is not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and that we are all part of the solution.”

Brees' teammate, Michael Thomas, seemed to allude to Brees in a Tweet.

He don’t know no better.

— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) June 3, 2020

Brees has already signed a deal with NBC to become an announcer when he retires.

Brees was outspoken in 2016 when he publicly criticized Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the anthem.