The Dolphins made a rule that players must either stand for the national anthem or stay in the locker room. But Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas, and Julius Thomas still kneeled before the Dolphins’ game against the Raiders on Sunday night.
3 Dolphins players got Adam Gase to relax team rule about kneeling during national anthem
Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas, and Julius Thomas told Gase that it hindered their preparation to stay in the locker room.
NBC
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Stills, Thomas, and Thomas spoke to head coach Adam Gase in the days leading up to the game and told their head coach that staying in the locker room hurt their ability to prepare for the game, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
Gase told his players that he would prefer it if they would stand for the anthem. But he relaxed the rule because he respects his players’ freedom of expression.
The team instituted the rule in early October, when controversy about protests during the national anthem was at a fever pitch. Stills, Thomas, and Thomas have remained in the locker room during the anthem for each game since the team applied the rule.
Gase established the rule after speaking with players about it.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has spoken out about the meaning behind the protests and that they aren’t about the anthem, the military, or the flag.
“Trump has made [standing for the anthem] about patriotism,” Ross said, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “It’s so important if that’s what the country is looking at to look at it differently ... It’s a different dialogue. Whenever you’re dealing with the flag, you’re dealing with something different.”
Stills, Thomas, and Thomas won’t face team discipline for their protest since they talked it out with Gase ahead of time.
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