Cowboys Leaning Toward Unofficial Policy of Cutting Players for Kneeling During Anthem
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just took the national anthem alert level to DEFCON 2.
Jones’ son Stephen Jones, the Cowboys’ executive vice president, took to the airwaves on Dallas radio station KTCK and all but said outright that any player who kneels for the national anthem will be cut from the team.
The Jones family’s hardline stance comes even as the NFL, under pressure from the players’ union, has backed off a policy that would have required players either to stand for the anthem or to remain in the locker room while it plays, with the league granting broad-based powers to teams to fine players for kneeling.
That stance created a rift through the league: On the one hand, owners like Jones are threatening punishment for players’ actions, while on the other hand, teams like the Eagles and Giants are going the opposite way, making public statements in support of their players and assuring them that no harm will befall them for kneeling.
And on the periphery of all this, President Donald Trump has made his feelings clear; he has repeatedly tweeted that players who kneel for the anthem should be kicked out of the league.
Stephen Jones was first asked by the radio hosts whether players would be punished for staying in the locker room.
“Yes,” Jones replied. “There’s one way to do it right in our mind and that’s to go toes on the line and stand for the anthem. That’s not an ‘I’ or a ‘me’ thing, this is an organization thing, we feel strongly about it, we don’t think it’s a controversy, that’s just the way we do it.”
The next question for Jones was whether players were expected to follow the team’s rule to the letter and whether they should avoid protest entirely.
“If they want to be a Dallas Cowboy, yes,” Jones said.
Trump, for his part, tweeted: “Way to go, Jerry. This is what the league should do!”
What may be more interesting to see is whether the Jones family faces any sort of punishment from the NFL for keeping this issue in the public eye while the league conducts negotiations with the union over the policy.
After all, Bengals owner Mike Brown said publicly earlier in the week that owners “had been instructed to stand down” on anthem talk until the league can decide how it wants its owners to speak with one voice.
And on the players’ side, do the Cowboys really want to risk becoming a radioactive place that free agents refuse to play in? Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, in his gratitude to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, has said on the record that he’s glad he’s not on the Cowboys, after all.
And if, say, Ezekiel Elliott or one of the wide receivers decide to kneel or stay in the locker room, will the Cowboys cut them?
Or, in a “they can’t cut all of us” gesture, will we see Cowboys players openly defy their owner by kneeling en masse?
Jerry Jones and his family have raised the stakes in the culture war. Whether it curbs player protest or escalates it will become evident very soon, when preseason play begins.
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