Arian Foster Discusses Colin Kaepernick, Donald Trump, Racism with Tomi Lahren

Former NFL running back Arian Foster discussed the NFL's stance on player protests during the national anthem with Tomi Lahren of Fox News on Thursday. 

According to TMZ Sports, Foster suggested the NFL was somewhat hypocritical in trying to limit the players' right to make a political or social statement by kneeling during the anthem: "It's a logically inconsistent stance on their part. If you wanna say don't make political statements on the field, then don't have the military flyover at the beginning [of games] or don't have a deal with the Dept. of Justice that has millions of dollars advertising the military. It's a logically inconsistent stance."

Foster also took issue with President Donald Trump referring to any player who protests as a "son of a bitch" during a speech in 2017: "The President of the United States is calling an American citizen a son of a bitch for exercising his 1st Amendment right. ... There's a citizen protesting how he sees fit to protest whatever issue he feels is important to him, very silently and very respectfully."

Protests during the national anthem have been a hot-button issue in the NFL since then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt in 2016, with other players, including Foster, following his lead.

Prior to the start of the 2018 season, the NFL passed a national anthem policy that would have resulted in teams being fined for players demonstrating during the anthem. The teams also would have had the authority to fine those players for doing so.

Under the policy, players would have had the option of remaining in the locker room during the anthem.

That policy was put on hold, and nothing was ever implemented during the 2018 season with regard to policing players' actions during the playing of the anthem.

The 32-year-old Foster spent eight seasons in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins from 2009-2016. During his career, he was a four-time Pro Bowler and one-time first-team All-Pro.

Kaepernick has not been signed by an NFL team since he parted ways with the Niners in 2017, and reportedly settled with the NFL for less than $10 million this year after alleging that NFL teams colluded to leave him unsigned.