By Darryl Slater/dslater@njadvancemedia.com
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Jets wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, one of the team's veteran leaders, expressed frustration Tuesday about the NFL's new national anthem policy.
The Jets' Jermaine Kearse makes his case about the anthem protests.
But he said he appreciates that Jets acting owner Christopher Johnson, who voted for the policy, has an open dialogue with players as they try to address social and racial justice issues.
Those issues are why players around the league -- but nobody on the Jets -- have peacefully protested the anthem over the past two years by kneeling.
Under the league's new anthem policy, teams are fined if players kneel while on the field for the anthem. (Players are now allowed to remain in the locker room for the anthem, if they don't want to stand.) Teams can punish players (including fines) for kneeling on the field -- basically passing along a fine imposed by the league.
"Disappointing," Kearse said of the NFL's new policy, after the Jets held an organized team activities practice Tuesday. "Me personally, I think they're kind of missing the point. For us, as a team, nobody on our team kneeled. Yet that doesn't mean we don't support the causes of why people are kneeling. We've been actively in conversations with Christopher and having those conversations on how we can go about it, and other ways to make change."
It seems unlikely a Jets player will kneel in 2018, based on how the past two seasons have gone. The Jets last season linked arms, including Johnson, during the anthem. Johnson has also taken a hands-on approach with players on social and racial justice issues.
Johnson has said he would absorb any fine he receives for a Jets player potentially kneeling on the field during the anthem in 2018. He said he would not punish a player for doing this.
Johnson is, of course, rich enough to afford the fines. And this is all probably a moot point anyway, since it is unlikely a Jets player will kneel in 2018.
Yet Johnson voted yes on the new policy -- which affects all players in the league, include those whose team owners take a harder-line stance on the issue -- rather than abstaining. The only owner to abstain was the 49ers' Jed York. No owner voted no on the policy.
Johnson is the Jets' acting owner because his older brother, Woody Johnson, is currently serving as President Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Kingdom -- a position Woody received after prominently supporting Trump's election.
Trump has vulgarly criticized NFL players who kneel during the anthem. He has said players should be required to stand. He continued to rip protesting NFL players after the NFL's new anthem policy came out last week.
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.