NFL owners to continue anthem talks

ATLANTA – The NFL approved a new owner for the Carolina Panthers, passed a rule to eject players who hit with their helmets, and took steps to spice up the kickoff.

Still to be resolved: a much more contentious issue.

What to do, if anything, about players who kneel during the national anthem?

At their annual spring meeting on Thursday, league owners welcomed David Tepper to their ranks by signing off on his record $2.2 billion deal to purchase the Panthers.

Tepper’s purchase was the first order of business at the league’s spring meeting in Atlanta. That was the easy part. As a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tepper was already familiar to the league’s owners and his approval was a mere formality. The vote was unanimous.

Anthem protests are a much thornier issue, of course.

“We certainly want to make and will make a thought-out, deliberate decision,” said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who has made it clear he opposes kneeling during the anthem. “Whatever we do, let’s put the focus on what the NFL’s about and that’s playing football.”

The owners began discussing the issue and will talk more about the matter when they wrap up their meetings Wednesday.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, a quiet but powerful protest against police brutality and racial inequities in the justice system. Other players took up the cause, and the gesture carried on during the 2017 season even after Kaepernick left the 49ers and failed to land a job with another team.

President Trump turned the anthem protests into a campaign issue, saying the NFL should fire any player who takes a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The NFL hasn’t gone that far, but Kaepernick has yet to land another job and one of his former teammates and fellow protesters, safety Eric Reid, is also out of work.

“I think there’s certainly resolve and I can assure the issue is getting the very best of every owner and the very best look at all our constituencies with an eye first and foremost to our fans. That’s No. 1,” Jones said. “We know our fans want us to zero in on football, and they don’t want to think about or think that we’re thinking about anything other than football. That’s certainly is my take on the spirit of the group.”

The NFL was reportedly considering whether to assess a 15-yard penalty against any player who takes a knee or conducts any other protest during the anthem. Another possible option would be to change up the pregame routine, keeping teams in their respective locker rooms until after the anthem has played.

That is the protocol long followed by college football, preventing anthem protests from being carried out in its stadiums.