The Dolphins (perhaps unintentionally) became the first team to publicly wade into the national anthem protest debate, as the club listed “proper anthem conduct” as a section under actions considered “conduct detrimental to the club,” reports Rob Maadi of the Associated Press. Miami later clarified that the NFL required clubs to stipulate their anthem policy before training camp, so the Dolphins — who open camp on Friday — were forced to list their policy somewhere. Now that the NFL and NFLPA have announced the league’s anthem stance, which would have fined the clubs of players who did not “show respect” while the anthem was performed, is on hold for the time being, the Dolphins’ actions won’t have much of an effect.
Here’s more from around the NFL:
- FOX may aim to hire former Rams head coach Jeff Fisher as a game analyst, but it doesn’t sound as though Fisher will call a full slate. “I don’t think 15-16 games in the fall is something I wanna do right now because I still have that desire to get back on the sideline,” Fisher said, per SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link). Fisher isn’t going to find a coaching job at this point in the offseason, so it’s unclear why a 16-game schedule would affect his plans to return to the coaching ranks. Nevertheless, Fisher appears likely to re-appear during the 2019 hiring cycle, although it’s anyone’s guess as to whether any NFL clubs will express interest after he posted a 31-45-1 record with the Rams.
- Former Mississippi State defensive back Brandon Bryant wasn’t selected in last week’s supplemental draft, but he did eventually land with the Jets, and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link) has now provided the terms of Bryant’s rookie contract. Bryant will earn the league minimum after inking a three-year deal worth $1.73MM, and also received a $20K signing bonus and a $70K overall guarantee. Certainly, that contract won’t tie Bryant to New York’s roster, but he could force his way onto the club with a standout training camp and/or preseason performance.
- In case you missed it, new Bears wideout Allen Robinson won’t start training camp on the physically unable to perform list, a good sign after he missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL.
Just don’t televise the anthem…..stay with the guys in the booth.
I believe the armed services pays the NFL to broadcast the anthem. Which is sad our nations hero’s get disrespected. I like your idea but maybe cut to a recorded national anthem honoring the flag, nation, and military as an intro to the game. Kind of like the old MNF intro with Hank Williams Jr. just do a national anthem production.
Just don’t put the kneelers on camera. How hard would it be to just show the person singing or the flag? No publicity equals this whole story going away.
Anyone else find it ironic that I support the right to protest and the right not to stand for the national anthem… by standing for the national anthem?
Knowone is disrespecting any armed services by not standing!
No, just the Brave men
and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice (their lives) to help keep this great country free and to let cowardly morons like you to be able to protest about it!
Noone***