Doug Baldwin tells Bill Simmons that some NFL owners have nixed anthem protests
Very few NFL owners have publicly discussed national anthem protests by players around the league, though it’s a good bet many of them don’t like it.
Some have voiced their opposition to their players behind the scenes, Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin said.
On “Any Given Wednesday,” Bill Simmons’ show on HBO, Baldwin said some owners have told their players they are not to join in the protest over police brutality and racial injustice. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the movement and it spread quickly to players on other teams, including Baldwin’s Seahawks.
Here is an excerpt of what Baldwin told Simmons, as provided by HBO:
Doug Baldwin: “There are some owners out there that have taken a stand and told players to do certain things which I think is egregious … ”
Bill Simmons: “What do you mean ‘taken a stand’?”
Doug Baldwin: “There’s been owners that have told their players to do specific things. Or to not do specific things, I should say.”
Bill Simmons: “Like what? You’re being cryptic.
Doug Baldwin: “Specifically, regarding the National Anthem and the protests, the one quote that I was informed of was, ‘You’re going to stand on the line with your hand on your heart and you’re going to sing the National Anthem because this is my stage.’”
Bill Simmons: “One of the owners said that?”
Doug Baldwin: “Yeah.”
Baldwin is providing second-hand information and not specifying the team so we don’t know the full context of that story, but telling a team they can’t protest “because this is my stage” seems pretty insulting to the unnamed owner’s players.
Most owners have stayed out of the controversy. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has probably been the most vocal, saying last month the protests were “really disappointing.” To date no Cowboys have protested, even when they played Kaepernick’s 49ers last week. (Snopes has said Jones did not tell his team to not protest, for what it’s worth.) Other NFL teams have not had any player take a knee or raise a fist during the anthem.
It has to be a tricky situation for any NFL owners who oppose the protests. Football teams have a long history of micromanaging their players. And everyone has a set of behavior policies at their job. While “this is my stage” is misguided, players who kneel during the anthem are doing so on the job (the NFL is not a normal workplace, but it still is a workplace). However, any owner who would publicly punish a player for taking a knee for the anthem would be bombarded with criticism over restricting free speech or their players’ feelings on social issues. It seems like a good way to alienate your roster. So does telling your team they have to stand because it’s your stage, though Baldwin said that happened already.
So far NFL owners have mostly avoiding saying anything publicly about the anthem protests. It’s probably best for them to just stay out of it altogether and avoid being a part of the controversy. But if an owner has told his players they’re not allowed to protest, as Baldwin said, we’ll probably find out who it was at some point.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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