SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A day after 49ers general manager John Lynch expressed his thoughts on player protests during the playing of the national anthem, Broncos general manager John Elway was asked for his view.
“We have not had a conversation with (the players). My stance is … everybody has the right to do what they wish to do and their beliefs are their beliefs. That’s why we live in this country,” Elway said Thursday, after the Broncos’ second joint practice with the 49ers. “They have the right to display whatever they wish to display. I think one thing that where we stand and I kind of stand with the Broncos is that, ‘You know what? That’s OK. We’ll respect that and whatever you want to do is fine with us. But the bottom line is that can’t get in the way of our main goal, and that is to compete for world championships.’
“So I just don’t want that pulling away from our team, and sometimes that can pull away because obviously it gets a lot of attention and so, therefore, the only thing I would so to our players is make sure it’s not hurting your teammates. If the questions and everything, if the tenor changes everything that’s going on in these interviews and now you’re not talking about our next opponent but you’re talking about what’s going on in the world, that’s not the best thing for our football team. So I only advise and would tell our players, ‘I respect where you stand. But when you’re doing anything, just understand what it’s doing to the football team,’ because I want all these guys to understand that we’re football-first and we want to win football games. And if we do that, everything’s going to be fine.”
Last season Broncos inside linebacker Brandon Marshall joined the movement initiated by Colin Kaepernick, kneeling for the anthem in protest of perceived social injustice in the United States. Marshall kneeled for half the season last year and was asked by the media about his protest almost daily. He said kneeling was to create conversation and that his intent was to follow it with work in the community.
Marshall later met with Denver Police Chief Robert White to discuss the department’s use-of-force policy, and continued to work with youth to improve school attendance at local elementary schools. During the offseason, he was awarded the 2017 Courage Award from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Alumni of Color.
Asked if he believed Marshall handled his protest and follow-up work well, Elway praised Marshall.
“Yeah, he really did,” Elway said. “And I think obviously Brandon made a point last year, but he carried it forward. He didn’t just make a stand on the field before the games. He actually went out in the community and did something and talked to different people and went and talked to law enforcement. I was proud of Brandon and the fact that not only did he show his support for what it was last year, but also he went out and did something in the community about it.”
Here was John Elway when asked about national anthem protests: pic.twitter.com/7dZoBukTkL
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) August 17, 2017