Former NFL running back Herschel Walker agrees with President Trump on the national anthem protests, saying athletes should set aside their political differences when they’re at work and save the protesting for their own time.

Mr. Walker, who supported Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, said he agrees with the president that the NFL should impose rules prohibiting players from kneeling during the national anthem.

“I think it means making a league-wide rule that if you want to protest, protest off the job,” he told TMZ.

“One of the things I want to say about the protests, where was everyone before the season started?” he asked. “I didn’t see anyone protesting in front of the White House, protesting in front of the Congress or protesting in front of police officers. Why did we wait ‘til football season started to start this again?”

Mr. Walker, president and CEO of Georgia-based Renaissance Man Food Services LLC, said that as a businessman, he wouldn’t be able to tolerate employees protesting on the job.

“I gotta run a business,” he said. “I got people that are trying to buy from me.”

“[NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell] got to step in and say ‘Guys, we have advertisers, we have sponsors, we have a lot of people that this is a job,’ ” he added.

Mr. Walker said he supports the players’ right to protest, but that it should be left for the off-season.

“What I say is everyone needs to stand. Everyone needs to be respectful,” he said. “Guys, during the off-season, if you want to go walk the picket line in front of Congress, I will be right there with you, because black lives do matter.”

Mr. Walker, who played for the USFL’s New Jersey Generals when Mr. Trump owned the team and appeared as a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” said that if anyone should be defending the national anthem and the American flag, it should be the president. He said he doesn’t always agree with Mr. Trump’s delivery, “but he’s still my leader.”

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