A group of players and team owners met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the national anthem and player protests in New York City on Tuesday night.
Giants linebacker Jonathan Casillas said on Thursday that he was one of the players at the meeting along with Eagles defensive end Chris Long, Patriots wide receiver Matthew Slater, Patriots safety Devin McCourty, Browns cornerback Jason McCourty and Browns linebacker Christian Kirksey.
Giants co-owner John Mara, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Steelers owner Art Rooney II, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and Jaguars owner Shahid Khan were there as was NFL exec Troy Vincent for a discussion about how the league, teams and players will approach the playing of the anthem in the weeks to come.
“We were basically talking about what we’re going to do to move forward and how we’re going to approach the whole kneeling situation,” Casillas said, via NJ.com. “It was a whole bunch of opinions shared. There was nothing we decided we’re going to do collectively.”
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said earlier on Thursday that Goodell has been “facilitating conversation between players and owners and coaches” but that the league office will not dictate “one uniform approach” to how teams approach the national anthem.
As for the Giants’ own approach, Casillas said he and several other members of the team met with Mara on Wednesday night and Mara asked that all players stand during the playing of the anthem. Mara also said that he is “in full support of anybody that kneels” as Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Landon Collins did before last Sunday’s game.
