One of the most talked about issues around the NFL for the last couple years has been the national anthem protests. Some owners and coaches have supported their players in kneeling, and some others have said absolutely not, and it has cost players like Colin Kaepernick his job.
The NFL is finally getting closer to deciding on how they will handle the protests, and their decision is to not actually handle them at all.
According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the NFL may delegate the anthem policy to individual teams, which means that each team will make their own decision on how to handle the protests.
If that does end up being the case, the NFL Players Association will probably fight the ruling. Right after Kaepernick started to protest in 2016, the NFL said that was a player's right to protest the National Anthem. Given that the NFLPA will fight that teams can't now take away that right from players after the NFL gave them that right in 2016.
If it does come down to individual teams deciding if players can or can't protest, there will be probably a handful of teams where it is banned.
Last season, Jerry Jones said that he would bench any player that refused to stand for the national anthem, and Houston Texans owner Robert McNair who has been one of the most outspoken on the issue has voiced similar feelings.
“I think we all need to respect our flag and respect our country,” McNair said via the Washington Post. “I think we’ll figure out a way to make sure that we do that. We’ll have discussions about it.”
Even if this is what the NFL decides, it probably won't be the final ruling, and the simple facts are that is still a long ways from actually getting resolved.
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