NFL Players Kneel During National Anthem During Veterans Day Weekend

Only three NFL players were seen kneeling during the National Anthem this Veterans Day weekend. Even players who have knelt in the past chose not to do so while the league honored men and women who have served in the military as part of its “Salute to Service” campaign.

Jennifer Lee Chan of NinersNation.com tweeted that Eric Reid and Marquise Goodin were the only members of the San Francisco 49ers to kneel. Oliver Vernon of the New York Giants also knelt before the game.

But outside the Giants-49ers game, players stood to honor the military.

The Veterans Day weekend games kicked off on Thursday with the Seahawks and Cardinals all standing for the anthem. Even the Seahawks’ Michael Bennett, who has been known to kneel in the past, didn’t do so.

“It was to signify that we are all with the military, and that we love them,” Bennett, who plans to kneel before the Nov. 20 game in Seattle, told the News-Tribune before the game. “There’s been this narrative that we don’t care about the military. Today, we were honoring the military, so we wanted to be able to honor the military.”

The Associated Press reported that no players protested during the Anthem before the 1:00 p.m. games. Rishard Matthews of the Tennessee Titans even walked onto the field while holding hands with two soldiers. He stood for the Anthem for the first time since President Donald Trump called players out for protesting.

The protest began last year when former Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt to protest police brutality and racial discrimination. In September, Trump called on NFL owners to fire players who knelt.

Before the Veterans Day weekend games, the NFL Players Association and the league announced there will be “no change in the current policy regarding the anthem.” However, the NFLPA unanimously called for a moment of silence before all of today’s games.

Meanwhile, a Facebook page calling for an NFL boycott has attracted 262,000 likes.