NFL Anthem Policy Put on Hold Pending Talks With Players Union
The National Football League has announced on Thursday that they, along with the NFL Players Association, will be holding off on fully enforcing the new national anthem policy. The postponement comes in the wake of differing team policies and protests from some of the league's top stars.
Among them is Tennessee Titans star Jurrell Casey, who earlier told CNN that he would continue protesting on the sideline during the national anthem, even if he has to pay the fine for it.
According to the new anthem policy announced on May 23, all team and league personnel on the field are now required to stand and pay respect for the flag during the national anthem. The new policy, however, will also allow players who would choose not to pay respect for the anthem to "stay in the locker room or in a similar location off the field until after the Anthem has been performed."
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"Around the NFL, guys are definitely not happy about it," Casey said about NFL's new policy.
"I feel it's not right, I don't think it was a good decision for the NFL to come up with that ruling," he said, adding that although the league has its own reasons for coming up with the new policy, he would be fined all the same.
"I'm going to protest during the flag," Casey stated.
The new policy allowed NFL clubs to determine how they would deal with protesting players, outside of a team fine. It resulted in a wide range of internal policies across the league, with the Miami Dolphins at one end issuing a new guideline that anthem protests are now considered to be "conduct detrimental to the club" worthy of a suspension.
On the other extreme, Jets acting owner Christopher Johnson announced that he has no plans to punish his players for any peaceful protests that they do on the sideline, according to Fox News.
