The controversy over NFL players protesting during the national anthem isn’t going away, despite — or perhaps because of — team owners’ efforts to stop players from using the forum to speak out on political causes.
The league’s attempt to turn responsibility for disciplining protesters over to individual teams backfired on Thursday when the Miami Dolphins tried to categorize raising a fist or kneeling during the anthem as “conduct detrimental to the club.” That gave them the right to punish a player with a fine or up to a four-game suspension — one game more than Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston got when he was accused of groping an Uber driver.