Jerry Jones, Cowboys expect DE Michael Bennett to stand for anthem. But will he?
Owner Jerry Jones has been clear on how he expects the Dallas Cowboys to treat the national anthem before games.
He wants them to stand with toes on the line and refrain from any type of social justice protests. Or they won’t play for the Cowboys.
Bennett sat during the anthem in 2017 as a member of the Seattle Seahawks in protest of social justice and racism against people of color. He stayed in the locker room during the anthem last season with the Philadelphia Eagles and he did the same this season with the Patriots before the trade to the Cowboys.
Bennett and the Cowboys discussed the issue before the trade was finalized and he is expected to stand.
“I’m satisfied that, in Michael, we’ve got a player who knows how we do it here with the Cowboys,” Jones said on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday.
Cowboys Jason Garrett echoed Jones saying, “We anticipate him doing what all of our players do. We don’t anticipate that being an issue.”
Bennett, who has yet to speak to the media, would be the second player this season to abandon their history of protests after joining the Cowboys.
Defensive end Robert Quinn raised his fist as a silent protest during the anthem the few seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins.
The Cowboys acquired Quinn in a trade from the Dolphins last March for a 2020 sixth-round pick.
He stood for the anthem with no raised fist during the preseason and has done the same since the start of the regular season.
Quinn said earlier this season that the protests were worth it for people of color who looked like him. But he blamed the media for twisting and distorting the messages as protests against the flag and the country rather than for social justice and police brutality.
“Why did the protest start?” Quinn rhetorically asked reporters before his first game with the Cowboys. “Then what did you all turn it into? I’m asking you. You’re media, right? You all took the message and made it into what you all wanted to make it. Now, I could sit there and beat this over the head, beat this over the head.”
“At the end of the day, y’all know what’s being done. Y’all see what’s being done about it. You want to know what I’m about, you come speak to me in my personal space, not at work. And you’ll see how I really roll.”