Anthem policy unresolved
Team hasn’t issued any guidance for Thursday’s game
Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills has knelt during the national anthem for the previous two seasons and the posture he takes during Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could stir the nation.
The Dolphins are one of two NFL teams that have had players protesting for social justice during the national anthem the past two seasons, and that streak could come to an end this year.
The NFL has put its threemonth-old national anthem policy on pause while the league and the player’s union work to find a resolution to a grievance filed in court last month about the new policy forcing players to stand for the anthem.
The decision came a day after a nine-page disciplinary document submitted to the NFL by the Dolphins that includes a section called “Proper Anthem Conduct,” cited fines or suspension as a possible punishment for players who knelt during the anthem.
Dolphins owner Steve Ross labeled the punishment policy submitted to the league as a “placeholder,” until the NFL clarifies its
rules, and team officials talk to the players.
The Dolphins said they have not created a team policy regarding anthem protests heading into Thursday night’s game against Tampa Bay, and coach Adam Gase said he hasn’t addressed anthem protests with his team and insinuated he doesn’t plan to.
“I’m not instructing anybody to do anything,” Gase said.
When asked what happens if the Dolphins have a protesting player on the field, an annoyed Gase quickly instructed the media to “talk to someone else,” possibly referring to management or Ross.
“I’m coaching football,” Gase said. “I’m not dealing with this.”
Gase has typically steered clear of the anthem protest controversy outside of a brief period last season when he created a team policy for those who didn’t want to stand for the anthem to stay inside the locker room or the tunnel.
Three weeks after creating that policy, Gase removed it when the three players — Stills, safety Michael Thomas and tight end Julius Thomas — who were protesting told him the policy was negatively affecting their pre-game preparation.
Last year Stills, who hasn’t spoke to the media this week, didn’t kneel during anthems played in preseason games, and he stood for the season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers because he said the message behind the protest was being lost by those who said it was unpatriotic.
He reversed course and began kneeling again a day after President Donald Trump called NFL players who knelt “sons of b------,” during a speech in Alabama. Stills, who won the Dolphins award for community service last year, said he did so to set an example for his teammates and others who want to fight for social justice.
Defensive end Robert Quinn, who the Dolphins acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, has lifted a fist in the air during the anthem the past two seasons. When asked about the NFL’s anthem policy, he reminded the media that NFL players have “freedom of speech.”
This issue has dominated headlines over the past two seasons, caused division and alienated some fans.
The protests began in 2016 before a San Francisco 49ers exhibition game, when Colin Kaepernick took a knee as a push for social justice and campaign for racial equality and came in reaction to incidents of police brutality. Two years later, it has become one of the most divisive issues in sports because some feel protesting during the anthem is unpatriotic.
Ross, who initially supported his players protesting during the anthem in 2016, has provided contradicting stands regarding the protests. Last year, he stood in locked arms with the players before a 20-6 loss to the New York Jets as players protested against the comments made by Trump.
But Ross has consistently pointed out that the cause for the protest has been hijacked by those claiming it’s unpatriotic.
Ross voted in favor of creating a policy preventing players from kneeling. He has also put millions of dollars in the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), an organization he started in 2013 with the goal of using sports to create social change.