During Monday’s Fox Sports 1 broadcast of “The Herd,” Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long shrugged off the NFL’s ratings drop being attributed to players like teammate Malcolm Jenkins protesting the National Anthem.

Long said that “a lot of people are having more fun watching football than ever” and players are putting their social consciences over the league’s success.

“I’m not sure this is true, Chris, but I’ll throw it out there: Some believe the kneeling has hurt ratings. It doesn’t bother me, but there’s military people that connect to it. How do you reconcile that what you do is empowering players, but it may be bad for your business?” host Colin Cowherd asked.

Long responded, “[W]hile there are a lot of studies that show the ratings are down, I would say a lot of people are having more fun watching football than ever. But, at the end of the day, I think what you’re seeing is a bunch of guys that care more about their social conscience or standing up for the things they believe in over the ratings and over the bottom dollar.”

“It’s funny, as athletes people always tell us to play for the love of the game, follow your heart, improve your communities, and when certain guys try to do that in a certain not so cookie cutter way, all of a sudden, it’s, ‘Hey, what about the bottom line? What about your paycheck? It’s going to shrink.’ Well, don’t you want us not to care so much about the money?” he added.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent