NFL Considering Making Change To National Anthem Rule

Over the past couple of years, the NFL has been dealing with a lot of drama surrounding the national anthem. Whether that drama be in the form of players kneeling or fans being upset over said kneeling, the league knows that something needs to be done about the situation. Now, it sounds like the league is considering making a rule change that would allow each individual team to decide what they want their players to do.

According to a report from Mark Maske of The Washington Post, the owners are expected to vote on the new rule during the upcoming meeting this month. The report mentions that another possibility would be to allow certain players that want to kneel to remain in the locker room until the anthem is over or potentially keeping the entire team in the locker room for the anthem.

There is also a chance that the NFL could stick with their current rules on the subject, which do not restrict the players from kneeling or doing whatever they choose during the anthem.

“My guess is they will leave it up to the teams,” one anonymous official said recently.

As fans will remember, everything began when Colin Kaepernick began kneeling for the anthem two years ago when he was with the San Francisco 49ers. Quite a few other players around the league ended up following Kaepernick’s lead.

NFL regards delegation of anthem policy to the individual teams as a "compromise"; NFLPA may not see it that way https://t.co/Mhu7LDZdJ3

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 6, 2018

Unfortunately for the NFL, many fans view kneeling during the anthem as a major disrespect to the service that the military has given to the country. It is also viewed as a disrespect for those who have given up their lives defending the country and the freedom that we all enjoy.

President Donald Trump took on the NFL last season, making it clear that he thought those who kneeled during the anthem should be released from their contracts. Most NFL teams have distanced themselves from Trump’s opinion, but there are some that made it clear to their players that they were to stand during the anthem.

Leaving this decision to the teams could be a perfect move for the NFL. It would allow them to take a step back and allow each team to deal with the situation themselves, which also leaves the league as a whole out of it and therefore away from the anger of the fans.