Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones previously said that he would reconsider the team’s stance on kneeling during the national anthem. Now reports are surfacing that he is looking for a compromise. According to Cowboys beat writer Clarence Hill Jr., Jones is looking for a solution that will both allow players to kneel while having them stand for the national anthem.
Hill reported on Tuesday that Jones would like to see the players kneel prior to the national anthem while they protest police brutality and racial inequality. Once the anthem begins, however, he would reportedly prefer for the players and coaches to stand. This is the same approach that the Cowboys took prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals in 2017. President Donald Trump spoke out against the players kneeling and called them “sons of b—es,” prompting league-wide protests.
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If Jones plans on reaching a compromise with his players, he will have to do so after meeting with defensive tackle Dontari Poe. The former Carolina Panthers star told reporters that he plans on kneeling during the 2020 season. However, he acknowledged that he would first have to meet with Jones to discuss the matter. Hill reports that Jones also plans on holding this meeting.
“Told us he had an open door for us to talk to him at any time,” Poe said about the Cowboys owner. “So I look forward to taking advantage of that and just getting in his ear and seeing how he’s feeling about it.” Jones previously had a strict “no kneeling policy” but has since said that the team is “going to have grace” when they sit down and look at how to handle the protests and the national anthem.
“We’ve asked for all of this interest, and we’ve asked for our players to give everything they’ve got,” Jones said. “I want to sit down when I have an issue and I have a decision to make; I want to show the world that I can do it with grace and come up with the right solution.” The team owner also said that he received input from both “ex-presidents” and “presidents.”
Following Hill’s report on Tuesday, Twitter users expressed skepticism about the “compromise.” Many said that Jones would bow to pressure from Trump and would force the players to stand. Where this happens is unknown, but the team will provide an answer when they suit up for a game against the Los Angeles Rams.
