Lions' Tracy Walker to wear decal of slain cousin Ahmaud Arbery's name on helmet

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Detroit Lions players, Hall of Famer criticize officiating after close loss to Green Bay Packers

Criticism of NFL referees overshadowed the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions as players and even one Hall of Famer chimed in on the officiating.

Detroit Lions' Tracy Walker plans to wear a decal of Ahmaud Arbery's name on the back of his helmet this season and is in the process of making shirts with his slain cousin's picture that he'll wear beneath his jersey.

Walker, a third-year Lions safety, played high school football with Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man gunned down by three White men while he was jogging in a neighborhood in the coastal city of Brunswick, Ga.

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William Bryan, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael have been arrested in connection to Arbery's death. Arbery was shot three times — once in the center of his chest, once in the upper left chest and once through his right wrist. His death, along with those of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, sparked a nationwide movement against police brutality and systemic racism.

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Walker called it a "blessing" that the NFL allowed him to honor his cousin on the field, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"I'm a firm believer in life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you respond," he said. "And I can sit here and be sad and sit here and just be crying and be emotional about the whole situation, but I have to put in perspective that first off a lot of good - and I wouldn't say I wanted this to happen this way - but a lot of good has come from that situation. And it has opened, like I said, a lot of eyes (to) things that's been going on for decades, that's just been getting overlooked."

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The Detroit Lions will play their season opener against the Chicago Bears on Sept.13.