The NFL’s new policy will impose fines on teams when players kneel or otherwise “disrespect” the anthem. From there, teams can choose whether or how to discipline players who run afoul of the rules. Jets chairman Christopher Johnson says he will not be among those fining players who demonstrate during the anthem.
“I do not like imposing any club-specific rules,” Johnson said (via Calvin Watkins of Newsday). “If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players. I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest. There are some big, complicated issues that we’re all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don’t want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won’t. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that’s just something I’ll have to bear.”
Johnson voted to ratify the anthem policy on Wednesday in Atlanta, but he wasn’t necessarily thrilled about the end result.
“I seriously struggled with this,” he said of the anthem modifications. “You know my position on the anthem, and you have to understand that the plan we ended up with, due to some serious work in the [meeting] room, was vastly less onerous than the one that was presented to me late last week. In the end, I felt I had to support it from a membership standpoint.”
Here’s more on Gang Green:
- Sam Darnold can erase Jets GM Mike Maccagnan‘s mistake of drafting Christian Hackenberg, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News opines. Hackenberg was the first quarterback drafted in the first two rounds not to take a regular season snap in his first two seasons in more than three decades, but all will be forgotten if this year’s No. 3 overall pick plays up to his potential. Hackenberg will now try to get on track with the Raiders while Josh McCown, Teddy Bridgewater, and Darnold (not necessarily in that order) handle things at QB.
- Once it became clear that Bridgewater was healthy, there was no need for the Jets to keep Hackenberg around, Brian Costello of the New York Post writes. Without an opportunity for reps – or a real chance at making the final cut – the Jets made an easy call by shipping Hackenberg and his contract to the Raiders for a conditional seventh-round draft choice.
you can get fined and flagged for cheap shots that injure players and end careers.
how’s that working??? let’s ask Jermichael Finley
Enough about wasting a draft pick. Google any teams second round picks and you’ll find lots of mistakes by all the teams including the Patriots who are the best at drafting. Maccagnan is doing a great job at rebuilding this franchise that was a laughingstock for years. Get over it.
I’ve been critical of the Hackenberg pick from Day 1, but I agree that, overall, the Jets are moving in the right direction.
Let’s see if the Bills can do as well with Hackenberg’s younger twin, Josh Allen, sucking up practice snaps and being the apple of the fanbase’s eye. Two words for older Bills fans as a reminder that sometimes, the fans’ love for a benchwarmer can be oh, so very, very, very misplaced: Gary Marangi, whose half-a-season in 1976 has been called by some analysts the worst sustained starting performance by a quarterback in NFL history.
If Johnson had guts hevwouldve voted against it then made his statement. Coward
Maybe he did and was out voted. Genius.
“Johnson voted to ratify the anthem policy on Wednesday in Atlanta”
Says so right there, padam.
He’d rather insult than read
Reading helps. Genius. Before you go insult people know what you’re talking about
A rule that Imposes fines on a team whose players kneel or disrespect the flag will most likely be headed toward judicial review.
It’s a private company. They can do whatever they want.
Actually your constitutional rights aren’t suspended when you go to work.
Not completely, but altogether too many of them are, in practice.
Thanks for pointing that out. I should have said “shouldn’t be suspended”.
1A only protects you from government punishment for free speech not a private company
I wish this would stop being confused. Those kneeling or doing whatever are violating the code of conduct stipulated by laws. It reads for your enjoyment,
Conduct during a rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed:
(A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
(B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
(C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
(2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.
You failed to cite the statute you are quoting.
There is no law that enforces the conduct that you quoted. It is considered proper etiquette.
No, it’s a collection of private companies with some LIMITED anti-trust protections AND a collective bargaining agreement, which means it can’t do “whatever” it wants.
Whether either the union (possible, if fines are passed along to a player) or a single team (highly unlikely) actually takes this to court is another matter, entirely.
This guy gets it. Kudos to him.
And I stand for the anthem myself, but if I were black I would hate this country.
you are going to get hated on for that comment but that is one of the better comments I have read. kudos to you.
Yeah? Why?
Because if I were black this country would have come to my home land and kidnapped my ancestors and forced them into slavery. Because it would have made my parents drink out of separate drinking fountains. Because it’s police do shoot the black race disproportionately. Because much of the general poverty of the black race in America stems from its starting point, from not having wealth in the family and businesses passed down over generations, although there are plenty of other reasons. Because black people were often killed or beaten by their slave owners for trying to be free. Because black people have been treated like lower beings in this country for hundreds of years, and while it’s improved substantially recently, it’s not all the way fixed and it doesn’t change what happened.
But in reality, I’m a 37 year old white, fairly new lawyer, who has had at least a reasonable chance. And I don’t believe I am responsible for other white people’s actions just because I’m white, or people’s actions that I’ve never met that I just happened to be related to that died a hundred years ago.
But if I were black, I’d never be willing to accept that argument either, from white America, because I wouldn’t be willing to excuse how my family and I had been treated and to just move on.
So there’s a bit of a paradox to it.
But if I were black, I would never stand for an anthem or an allegiance that treated me or my family that way. Never. Those are things you simply can’t make amends for.
But most of that stuff is in the past! My ancestory is of Native American ! Have you forgotten about all the horrible things that were done to my people ? To Japenease-Americans who were rounded up during the War
Communists!
Just stand. Grow the up. And put ur money where your knee is and give back to your communities. That easy. The idiot that said he would hate this country if he was Black is and idiot. Then just leave. Nobody is holding a gun to your head. These other idiots, where else can you make millions to run on a field and tackle someone. Only America! Enjoy America or leave. Anyone disrespect the flag is in essence disrespectful to those who protect it. That is not American. Freedom of speech is fine. Do it on your own time and not on the nfl time.