The NFL has time after time proven they don’t care about their players until it’s too late. Players had to fight in the last CBA for benefits for retired players, many current players do not have substantial guaranteed money yet they’re out there making the system billions, marijuana is still a banned substance despite the fact painkillers are thrown around like candy and highly addictive, and now they’ve sent another clear message:

“This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem,” Commissioner Goodell said, “Personnel who choose not to stand for the anthem may stay in the locker room until after the anthem has been performed.”

We have been talking about the purpose of the kneeling movement for years now, yet somehow, they still don’t understand what the kneeling was actually about. To those that kneeled, it was at no point a disrespect to the flag or the anthem, it was in protest of injustice in this country.

People forget the idea originated from a conversation between Nate Boyer, a U.S. Army Green Beret, and Colin Kaepernick.

Boyer wasn’t a fan of Kaepernick sitting during the anthem, but Kaepernick didn’t want to stand. They both agreed that kneeling would be the best decision for both sides.

“We sorta came to a middle ground where he would take a knee alongside his teammates,” Boyer says. “Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother’s grave, you know, to show respect.”

This decision was calculated and made with the clear intention to send a message, without disrespecting those who have served our country and continue to do so each and every day. To be clear, however, it still was a PROTEST.

Guess what? Protests are designed to make people uncomfortable, not all people are going to agree on the method or the reasoning, and certainly not the cause. And that’s OK! We don’t all have to agree on everything! It’s possible two good-hearted people can both have very different viewpoints. It’s also possible two people can each explain their side and both respect, but not necessarily agree, with the one another.

Except if you don’t want to do it the NFL’s way…

“Personnel who choose not to stand for the anthem may stay in the locker room until after the anthem has been performed.”

Translation: “You go into your room until you’re ready to come out, apologize and be a big boy.”

I’m sure that’ll go over well with grown men.

Yes, the NFL is their employer, and they absolutely have a right to pass this rule, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This was the NFL’s opportunity to take a page out of the NBA and listen to their players, to be the good guy, or to at least listen and state their current decision in a respectful manner.

Instead what we’ve known all along was firmly reiterated: they only give a shit about their image, not the people who’ve made them the $80 billion they’re worth.

N.F.L. owners, players and executives met last month to discuss the anthem issue. Apparently, players wanted to talk about Kaepernick’s case, while owners were more concerned about how to avoid negative publicity around the issue of kneeling during the anthem.

“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said Robert K. Kraft, the Patriots owner and a longtime supporter of Trump’s. “It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”

Yikes.