The NFL just had a major pow-wow in New York with one of the major topics of conversation being players protesting during the national anthem.
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Understandably, and expectedly, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave his thoughts on the mater, but one notable name, in particular, was missing from the group of those who gave their thoughts in Ne York.
That name is non-other than Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones, who has been a major player in this issue, whether he was kneeling with his team before the national anthem or relaying that president Donald Trump reminded him of the NFL rulebook regarding anthem protocol.
So yeah, it was rather notable that Jones didn't speak at the meetings. According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, though, that shouldn't actually be surprising.
"I think it was absolutely by design," he said. "I think Jerry Jones remains the one guy in all of this who could potentially throw a wrench in the progress that the owners are feeling today."
Robinson went on to speak about New York Giants' co-owner John Mara, who was at one-time a "hardliner" on anthem protests but has evolved through talking to players and hearing their mindset and thoughts on the protests.
That's apparently not the way Jones can see things.
"Jerry Jones is not on board with that and I think John Mara made that clear. He used qualifiers. He kept saying 'most owners', 'most franchises', 'most of us'. The reason why he's saying most is because Jerry is on the outside looking in still. I think Jerry maintains the stance that he would discipline players if there was a form of protest during the national anthem. I think that Jerry took a side exit today because the league and the owners collectively did not want Jerry stepping out there and being asked "Jerry, where are you at on this? It seems like everyone else is in one direction but you're still going the opposite way.' I think Jerry Jones not speaking coming out of this meeting says a lot about the fact that he remains unchanged and that's kind of a dangerous position the NFL in terms of the progress they are making."
The NFL has made it clear that it would like for players to stand during the national anthem, but as far as official punishments for kneeling are concerned it doesn't seem as if the league is going to act one way or the other.
Jones, on the other hand, has been pretty clear on the fact that he'd discipline any player, from Dak Prescott to Ezekiel Elliott, for protesting during the anthem so it will be interesting to see if he does eventually end up making his thoughts on the NFL's stance known.
Knowing Jones, he likely will.
