Jenkins: Possible protest policy change won’t deter NFL players

NFL owners will meet next week to consider changes to a game manual that says players “should” stand during the national anthem, a guideline the league has left to the discretion of players who kneeled in large numbers after criticism from President Donald Trump.

Commissioner Roger Goodell told club executives Tuesday in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that the anthem issue is dividing the league from its fans. He said the NFL needs “to move past this controversy.”

NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said the guidance will be “front and center on the agenda” when owners meet in New York next Tuesday and Wednesday.

“At the end of the day you’ve had these individual owners come out and take some strong stances, and some owners take stances behind closed doors,” the Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins said Tuesday. “But from a players’ standpoint that doesn’t change what we do or how we go about our business. Whether they want to assist us or deter us is on them.”

Jenkins is not one to take a knee, but over the past two seasons has raised a fist during the anthem.

“I think we’ve seen that even over the last year that you can take a player out of the league, you can threaten to do whatever you want to do,” Jenkins said. “That’s not going to deter players from doing what is right. Or doing what they believe is right. So you might be able to change the manner in which that looks, but I don’t see players stopping their pursuit for justice or equality.”

The movement started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last season over his view of police mistreatment of black males had mostly subsided when Trump told a rally in Alabama last month that owners should get rid of players who kneel during the anthem.

In his memo, Goodell reiterated the league’s belief that everyone should stand for the anthem and outlined plans to highlight efforts of players trying to bring attention to the social issues behind the game-day protests. Goodell said those plans would be presented to owners next week.

“The controversy over the anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues,” Goodell wrote. “We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”

Lockhart said he wasn’t sure if players would be included in discussions during the league meetings.

Most teams practice on one or both of those days. Houston and Detroit are the only teams with byes next week. The NFL Players Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The game manual says that during the anthem “players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking.” It is the NFL’s only known guidance on the subject.

The manual also says anyone not on the field by the start of the anthem can be fined or suspended. Lockhart said the league so far has chosen not to discipline any players. He sidestepped a question of whether “should” would be changed to “must” next week.

“I think there will be a discussion about the entire issue including the policy, including all of the various elements that have been raised over the last four weeks,” Lockhart said. “I’m not going to predict what might happen.”