Over the past two seasons, player protests during the national anthem have been a major thorn in the side of the National Football League, as they have polarized the fanbase and attracted scorn towards the league from offices as high as the President's. With the league having to tread carefully in balancing their player conduct policy with the player's rights to freedom of speech, they may be reaching a point where they put the ultimate decision in the hands of their individual franchises.

According to a report by Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the NFL is considering allowing teams to determine whether or not they will require players to stand for the national anthem for themselves. The proposed change would be on the table at a meeting of the league's owners later this month in Atlanta, where they are expected to vote on a number of options. Among the proposals include a league-wide policy requiring players to stand if they are on the sideline, an option to allow players to remain in the locker room during the national anthem, a return to the NFL's pre-2009 policy of keeping players in the locker room until the national anthem is over, or simply keeping the league's current policy as it is.

"My guess is they will leave it up to the teams," an anonymous high-ranking official on an NFL team told the Post.

According to Maske, opinions among the league's owners are mixed when it comes to national anthem policy. While some would like to require their players to stand for the national anthem, others are opposed to such a mandate, and it does not appear that there is enough support among the owners to require their players to stand.

Player protests during the national anthem have been a sore point for the league ever since the 2016 preseason, when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem, saying he was "not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color". Similar copycat protests soon followed, but died down as the season progressed.

The protests flared up the next season, reaching fever pitch when President Donald Trump blasted players for protesting the anthem, stating that they should either be benched by their teams or cut altogether. President Trump's comments were met with great indignation early in the season, as they sparked mass sideline protests or players abstaining from the national anthem altogether.