Owners blasted him in secret anthem huddle

NFL team owners laid into President Trump for his attacks on “taking a knee” during an extraordinary summit with players and executives that was supposed to be kept secret, a report revealed Wednesday.

“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use [the kneeling] as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said New England Patriots owner and longtime Trump pal Robert Kraft, according to a recording of the October meeting obtained by The New York Times. “It’s divisive and it’s horrible.” Attendees at the crisis conference were told it would be “confidential,” leading many owners to make some extremely candid comments.

Miami Dolphins boss Stephen Ross suggested players and team owners “march on Washington” — while Philadelphia Eagles honcho Jeffrey Lurie described Trump’s presidency as “disastrous,” according to the Times.

“We’ve got to be careful not to be baited by Trump or whomever else,” Lurie said. “We have to find a way to not be divided and not get baited.”

The meeting came the month after Trump called for the firing of players who protest police violence against African- Americans by kneeling during the national anthem.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired! He’s fired!’ ” Trump said during a Sept. 22 rally.

A few days later, more than 200 players knelt during the anthem — as Trump continued his attacks on Twitter.

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula was worried Trump would continue his assault on the league if it didn’t come up with some sort of plan.

“All Donald needs to do is to start to do this again,” Pegula said. “We need some kind of immediate plan because of what’s going on in society. All of us now, we need to put a Band-Aid on what’s going on in the country.”

But Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan — who donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration but later denounced the president’s “divisive and contentious remarks” — said he didn’t think things would get worse.

“All the damage Trump’s going to do is done,” he said.

Players, meanwhile, kept pressing owners to explain why former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the anthem protest, was apparently being blacklisted by the league.

“I feel like he was hung out to dry,” 49ers safety Eric Reid said.

“Everyone in here is talking about how much they support us . . . Nobody stepped up and said we support Colin’s right to do this. We all let him become Public Enemy No. 1 in this country, and he still doesn’t have a job.”

But the owners were more interested in damage control, the Times reported.

The problem we have is, we have a president who will use [kneeling] as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America. — Patriots owner Bob Kraft

We need some kind of immediate plan because of what’s going on in society. All of us now, we need to put a Band-Aid on what’s going on in the country. — Bills owner Terry Pegula