Doug Baldwin disappointed and conflicted on new NFL rule on the anthem

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

DOUG BALDWIN

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS wide receiver Doug Baldwin, a Filipino/American, is clearly disappointed that the NFL owners have placed restrictions on player protests during the playing of the national anthem.

"The NFL just doesn't get it," Baldwin told KIRO-AM radio, the team's flagship station in Seattle, last week. Players began kneeling or sitting during the anthem following the example of former 49er Colin Kaepernick who said he was protesting the police killings of unarmed African/Americans and an unequal justice system.

The new rule states players can stay in the locker room or out of sight if they don't wish to stand for the anthem but if they are on the field, they must stand when thehe anthem's playing. If a player kneels on the field, the club will be fined.

"I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms. But still, I think it’s good," Donald Trump said on Fox. "You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem and the NFL owners did the right thing if that’s what they’ve done.

"I think the people pushed it forward. This was not me," he continued. "This country is very smart. We have very smart people. That's something that could have been taken care of when it first started. If they are doing that there, they are doing the right thing."

"He's an idiot -- plain and simple," Baldwin said when asked about Trump during Baldwin's press conference of 2018 last week. "I respect the man because he's a human being first and foremost but he's just being more divisive which is not surprising. It is what it is but for him to say that anybody that doesn't follow his viewpoints or his constituents viewpoints should be kicked out of the country, it's not very empathetic. It's not very American-like, actually, to me. It's not very patriotic. It's not what this country was founded upon. So it's kind of ironic to me that the president of the United States is contradicting what are country is really built on."eafness or the disconnect between the NFL and its players.”

Some of the San Francisco 49ers knelt last season to protest the inequities of the justice system.

The owners' actions were not unanimous. 49ers CEO Jed York told reporters that he did not support the policy and abstained from the vote. New York Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said Jets players are free to kneel and vowed his team would not fine players if the team is penalized.

"I do not like imposing any club-specific rules," Johnson Newsday. "If somebody 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."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this post had a typo in the headline. Instead of "convicted," it should have said "conflicted."
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