Brandon Marshall

Brandon Marshall has supported Colin Kaepernick. (AP Photo | Mark Tenally)

Before Thursday night's NFL season opener between the Broncos and Panthers, Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall kneeled during the national anthem.

This is a trend sparked by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's kneeling anthem protest, which is designed to draw attention to injustices against America's black community. Other athletes followed Kaepernick's lead before Marshall.

But after Marshall's anthem protest, Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall -- who has the same name, but is an entirely different person -- received racist tweets.

BlackSportsOnline.com has the details of those despicable tweets, which include some vulgar words, typed by at least one barely functioning moron.

Earlier this week, the Jets' Marshall voiced his support for Kaepernick, calling him "one of the biggest patriots out there."

But Marshall has never given any indication that he would kneel during the anthem -- which, in case you need a reminder, would 100 percent be within his rights as a human being who exists in this country.

Jets owner Woody Johnson was asked this week how he'd feel about one of his players kneeling during the anthem. (No Jets players have even hinted that they intend to do so.)

"It wouldn't be my first choice," said Johnson, adding that he would "have a conversation" with the player after the protest, to learn his motivations.

Marshall was asked this week if he'd ever consider not standing during the anthem. He did not specifically answer, but this was his response:

"We all have causes. I think there's things that trumps all of those causes. When it comes to human rights, when you believe in one thing, you believe in all. I spent a lot of time last week listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I listened to almost all of his speeches online. I downloaded the album again.

"One of the things he's always done was he spoke his mind. He's always spoke it out of truth and love. He did it in a way where he had friends on both sides. I think that's the best way, where you sit at the table. It's interesting, because that was the civil rights movement back then. This is another civil rights movement, like it or not. This is a civil rights movement. It's a civil rights issue.

"Martin Luther King did an amazing job of making sure that everyone was at the table. What I mean by that is he never once went against America. He always said America was an amazing nation. Whether he believed that or not, I don't know. I say that because if you want to get things done, you have to do it in a way where everyone is at the table.

"For me, I think it's an amazing time, and I think that we're going to see a lot of change. Nothing is new. These issues have been around forever. The only thing that's changed is technology and we get the information faster. We're able to capture it.

"I'm excited about the times we're in because we're talking about it. We'll see what happens and how we're going to affect change with these protests and some of the things that people are talking about."

Some thought-provoking comments there from Marshall.

Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.