Report: Ex-Cowboys players recall ‘crazy’ moment Jerry Jones talked about kneeling

Very few members of the Dallas Cowboys have discussed other NFL players who have kneeled during the national anthem as a form of protest against social injustices.

Owner Jerry Jones adopted a firm no-kneeling policy that he re-affirmed this preseason before the NFL required him to stop discussing the topic.

But after president Donald Trump’s comments on the issue just before the start of Week 1 last season, a large number of players and teams made some sort of gesture during the anthem.

The Cowboys did, too. When the team visited Arizona to play the Cardinals, Jones and his players locked arms and took a knee before the playing of the anthem.

But after the game, he made it clear that the gesture was not in protest of the anthem.

A new Sports Illustrated report details some of the thought process behind how the Cowboys ended up making that decision.

“One of the things Jerry said before that — like literally minutes before that — was whatever we do I want to do it as a team,” former Cowboys defensive back Bene’ Benwikere told Sports Illustrated. “That was one thing that I feel like got a lot of people who weren’t ready to do all that to buy in, the fact that he made it about the team. That was the last little push. Whether he was really sincere about it or not, I don’t know. That was just a weird time.”

In the article, several current and former Cowboys such as Keith Smith, Byron Jones and Brian Price mentione that they were entirely focused on the game.

But Benwikere, who ended up next to Jones by accident, told Sports Illustrated that while had some reservations, the message of the gestures were more important.

“That was crazy,” Benwikere told Sports Illustrated. “I look to my left, and it’s Jerry Jones. And I’m like, I don’t know how I’m going to do this right now. And then I started thinking about getting the world to understand that the protests were not about disrespecting the fallen soldiers, but the crimes that have been committed over time. But I’m not sure the guy next to me [Jones] believes that. You can see that the arm doesn’t want to go there. But hey, that was the moment.”

You can read the entire story here.