Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had become, whether deliberately or not, a lightning rod in the anthem controversy. From his efforts to dominate past ownership meetings to his stand-for-the-anthem mandate to multiple public comments that served only to inflame the situation, Jones was regarded as someone who could end up trying to recruit other owners to change the current policy and require players to stand.
Those fears were ultimately unfounded. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Jones didn’t try to dominate the session among owners that followed the meeting between roughly a third of the owners and multiple players.
In the end, no change to the policy was proposed or adopted. Standing remains optional, and players technically can’t be punished for kneeling or sitting during the anthem.
As of last Tuesday, that seemed like an unlikely outcome. Between Jones and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, signs were emerging that owners were becoming exasperated with the situation and wanted to solve it.
It’s still not solved, which means that not solving it may be the solution, at least for now. The hope seems to be that, over time, players will become sufficiently impressed by the league’s efforts to promote the underlying causes to choose to stand for the anthem.