"We got a lot of guys that came home with that flag draped on their coffins, so to us it's a disrespect."

Instead of taking the protest to a national stage as large as the one offered by NFL games, Schmidt wishes the protests would remain where, to him, they belong.

"Obviously they're entitled to their opinion and to protest but this is not the proper venue for them to do that," he said. "If they want to do like they do in St. Louis and hit the streets, that's great, we're all behind that, if they feel there's an injustice there."

NFL owners will meet next week to consider changes to a game manual that says players “should” stand during the national anthem, a guideline the league has left to the discretion of players.

In his memo, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated the league's belief that everyone should stand for the anthem and outlined plans to highlight efforts of players trying to bring attention to the social issues behind the game-day protests. Goodell said those plans would be presented to owners at the meeting.

The anthem protest movement began with then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last season.