Stephen Ross Says All Dolphins Players Will Stand for National Anthem in 2018

If Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has his way, players on his team will not be kneeling during the national anthem as a way of protesting police brutality and racial injustice during the 2018 season.

"All of our players will be standing," Ross told Christian Red of the New York Daily News on Monday.

In something of an ironic twist, Ross' comments came Monday when he was receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Jackie Robinson Foundation for being a "longtime champion of equal opportunity."

The Dolphins owner said he was initially fine with the players who knelt during the anthem as a means of protest, but he changed his mind when he started viewing it as disrespectful to the military and flag.

"When that message changed, and everybody was interpreting it as that was the reason, then I was against kneeling," Ross told Red. "I like Donald [Trump]. I don't support everything that he says. Overall, I think he was trying to make a point, and his message became what kneeling was all about. From that standpoint, that is the way the public is interpreting it. So I think that's really incumbent upon us to adopt that. That's how, I think, the country now is interpreting the kneeling issue."

Trump didn't hesitate to weigh in on the kneeling during the 2017 season, saying at a rally that owners should "get that son of a bitch off the field right now" if a player didn't stand for the anthem.

It went so far that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement denouncing Trump's "divisive comments" and praising the efforts of players in the community.

The Dolphins aren't the only team making headlines lately for a reaction to the protests. Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle wrote the following regarding the Houston Texans: "I spoke with two NFL agents this week who said word is the Texans aren't interested in any players who participated in pregame kneel-downs in protest of police brutality."

Kneeling during the anthem as a form of protest first made waves when then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did so. He ultimately filed a grievance against the league and its owners alleging there was collusion to keep him out of the NFL because of his protests.

Kaepernick didn't play in 2017 after throwing 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2016.