Report: NFL Owners Discuss 'Still Evolving' National Anthem Policy for Players

NFL team owners discussed the league's guidelines regarding the national anthem but didn't agree to any amendments to the current rules, the Washington Post's Mark Maske reported Monday. 

Maske spoke to an unnamed owner who said the deliberation was "just the beginning of a conversation" and "to be continued." A second owner said the topic is "still evolving" and "still headed toward something in May" at the NFL's spring meeting.

Under the current terms of the game operations manual, the NFL advises players to "stand at attention" during the national anthem but doesn't explicitly state players are required to do so. According to Maske, owners brought up the anthem policy without prescribing any potential alterations.

Instead, owners prioritized an initiative the NFL launched last December in which it pledged $90 million to "combat social inequality." NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported owners agreed Monday to match any funds raised by players for their local charities and social welfare efforts.

When the owners shift their focus to the anthem protests, reaching any sort of consensus may prove difficult, judging by comments by Houston Texans owner Bob McNair and acting New York Jets owner Christopher Johnson.

"Our playing field is not the place for political statements, not the place for religious statements," McNair said Sunday, per the Associated Press (via NFL.com). "It's the place for football."

Johnson, on the other hand, argued against making players stand for the anthem, saying "trying to forcibly get the players to shut up is a fantastically bad idea."