Though NFL commissioner Roger Goodell believes players should stand for the national anthem, he did not make it a rule during a recent meeting with the NFL owners and NFLPA. Goodell did, however, say that the league would work towards all players standing during the anthem.

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett says he will continue to stand no matter the result.

"I plan on sitting down," Bennett said Wednesday. "Like I said, I continue to do what I been doing. The consequences are the consequences."

Bennett has sat down in all but two games in 2017. The two exceptions: At the Tennessee Titans in week two, when the entire team stayed in the locker room; and week five at the Rams, when everyone stood as a means of honoring the lives lost during the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Several teams have announced that their players will stand, others are allowing players to kneel. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been the most vocal about requiring his players to stand, stating that those who don't stand, won't play. Bennett, while wearing a sweatshirt bearing the word "Equality" called that mandate "crazy" and said Jones' comments are "inconsiderate of a person being a human being." He also said Jones' comments reminded him of the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case in 1857. The infamous Supreme Court ruling denied Scott, a black slave, his freedom and incited tensions across the nation.

"You're a property so you don't have the ability to be a person first," Bennett said. "I think that in this generation, that sends the wrong message to young kids and young people all across the world that your employer doesn't see you as a human being, it sees you as a piece of property. If that's the case, I don't get it. I just don't get why you don't see them as a human being first."

Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said Tuesday that the Seahawks have not told players what to do during the anthem and referred to the organization as "liberal" in that regard.

Bennett did not attend the social-issues meeting between the players and owners Tuesday in New York because the Seahawks practiced that afternoon. He did speak with players who attended, though his comments Wednesday about the meeting were focused on the man who did not: Colin Kaepernick.

"The first step to even being able to have a conversation is make sure Colin Kaepernick gets an opportunity to play in the NFL," Bennett said. "Before we even negotiate anything about whether we sit or whether we stand, there should be a negotiation about opening up the doors for Colin Kaepernick and give him an opportunity again, because I feel like through everything that's been lost.

"I think all of us are having opportunities to be able to speak to our employers, but to think about the guy who started everything not to be able to have a voice at this moment, it just doesn't seem very right to me."

Bennett agreed with the comments Sherman made Tuesday that Kaepernick is more talented than most of the quarterbacks on NFL rosters at the moment.

"That's something that we need to address as a league and address as players and address as the NFLPA because if it can happen to one of our own, then how can we fight for what we want if we can't protect the people who play next to us?" he said. "I think that's something that we need to make sure that we get across to the employers and Roger and the rest of the guys."

Kaepernick was invited by some players to attend the meeting but was not invited by the league. He initially started the protest against racial inequality and systemic oppression. He has since not been picked up any teams and hasn't even been called for a workout/tryout, giving credence to allegations that he's being blackballed. Kaepernick has filed a grievance, accusing the league of collusion to keep him out.

Source: komonews.com