Secretary of Defense, Navy allowing CB Cameron Kinley to play for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Rookie cornerback Cameron Kinley has been granted his ask for to play in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin declared Tuesday.

Austin declared in a assertion that he permitted a program by the Department of the Navy to enlist Kinley in the Inactive All set Reserve “for the duration of his football vocation.” The news comes immediately after Kinley’s ask for to delay his Navy commission to play in the NFL had to begin with been denied.

“On completion of his actively playing time, we glance ahead to welcoming him back again inside the ranks as a naval officer,” Austin stated in the assertion. “In the meantime, we know Cameron will get each possibility on and off the area to ably signify the Navy and the armed service to the American people today and to aid us in our recruiting initiatives. I applaud Navy management for acquiring this way to showcase both equally Cameron’s athletic prowess, as very well as the quality and professionalism of our university student athletes and our staff.”

Kinley had produced a assertion before Tuesday that Austin had educated him he would be allowed to attend instruction camp with the Buccaneers.

“I am particularly appreciative of Secretary Austin’s selection and I am enthusiastic to signify our great armed service in the Countrywide Soccer League,” Kinley stated in a assertion Tuesday. “This previous thirty day period has been extremely challenging and I am grateful for all people who has supported me in any way.”

Kinley thanked the NFL Gamers Association, the NFL league office environment and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., between other individuals in his assertion.

But God 🙏🏾 @DivineSportsEnt @Buccaneers @USNavy pic.twitter.com/Rsmfx03dZ1

— Cameron Kinley (@ck3thethrill) July six, 2021

Rubio had published a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to aid Kinley in delaying his commission with the Navy so he could attend instruction camp with the Buccaneers.

“I am self-assured that Cameron will signify the Navy very well in the NFL, just as he did as a standout athlete and course president at the Naval Academy,” President Biden stated in a assertion Tuesday. “Right after his NFL vocation is more than, he will proceed to make us proud as an officer in the United States Navy.”

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Kinley was not offered an rationalization why Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Harker declined to send out Kinley’s deferment bundle to the secretary of protection and was instructed he could not appeal the selection.

Right after the Navy’s selection, Kinley, who is from Memphis, wrote a letter to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., for her assistance in approaching the Navy to modify its selection.

“I’m happy that he will have his possibility to verify himself,” former Navy running back again Keenan Reynolds, who was drafted in the sixth spherical by the Baltimore Ravens in 2016 and played two game titles with the Seattle Seahawks in 2018, instructed ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “There is no far better particular person to grant the exception to than Cam. He fits the monthly bill by and by.”