Nate Boyer, the former Green Beret who worked with Colin Kaepernick and advised him to kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustices during the 2016 season, spoke out on Thursday after Drew Brees’ controversial comments on the issue this week.

Brees, in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, was asked about how the league should react if players start protesting that way again this season. The New Orleans Saints quarterback responded by saying that he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag,” which sparked widespread backlash in the sports world.

Boyer — a former Texas long snapper who briefly played for the Seattle Seahawks and helped Kaepernick come up with a peaceful and respectful way to protest in 2016 — said on 97.3 The Fan in San Diego that he didn’t think Brees meant to “ostracize himself” with those comments.

They also, however, prove that there is still work to be done to make sure that the true message of those protests isn’t lost.

Brees apologized on Thursday morning in an Instagram post following harsh criticism from all corners of the sports world, including from his own teammates.

‘Not a bad thing to feel patriotic’

A big part of Brees’ feelings on the issue, he said in his initial comments on Wednesday, had to do with the sacrifices many Americans — including his two grandfathers who had fought in World War II — have made for the country. Oftentimes during the national anthem, Brees said, he gets emotional and overwhelmed thinking about it.

Boyer said he gets why Brees feels that way. He and countless other Americans do, too.

But that doesn’t mean that the feeling is universal — which is something Brees and others, Boyer said, need to understand.

While Boyer knows that there has been plenty of progress on this issue, and in civil rights in general in the United States, he said it’s clear that there is still work to be done.

Settling for where we’re at now, he said, isn’t the America he knows.

More from Yahoo Sports:

• Brees apologizes for comments on kneeling during anthem

• Paylor: Backlash to Brees’ comments offers preview of season

• Goodwill: Major risks aside, NBA is finally coming back

• Keyser: Is public about to finally turn against MLB owners?