NFL Teams May Dictate Policy on Anthem Protests

The NFL may leave individual teams to decide their own policy on player protests during the national anthem, say reports.

As we know, the league has said that it will not stop players from protesting. However it remains a hotly contested issue and a compromise may be forthcoming.

According to the Washington Post, the compromise could come in the form of giving teams the final say on protests.

The “take a knee” protests, started by Colin Kaepernick in 2016, have many opponents, including president Donald Trump.

In football circles, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair has been one of the most vocal detractors. He made an infamous comment that the “we cannot have the inmates running the prison”.

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Those comments led to more fervent protests in the National Football League, as well as in other sports leagues.

The whole Houston Texans squad to knelt before their game against the Seattle Seahawks which took place after the comments.

Speaking again at the annual league meeting in Orlando, McNair urged teams to “respect our flag and respect our country.”

“I think we’ll figure out a way to make sure that we do that. We’ll have discussions about it,” McNair added.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also opposed the kneeling protests in the NFL, promising to bench the players who “disrespect” the national flag and anthem.

The NFL Spring meeting is due to be held in Atlanta later this month. It is expected that a decision will be made regarding the issue then.

Of course, any move made now could backfire. As the NFL season drew to a conclusion with the Super Bowl, the political issues naturally took a backseat. Bar the Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid collusion controversy, the issue has been dormant. A new ruling could cause it to explode again ahead of the new season.