Bell: It's time for NFL owners to stand up to Donald Trump

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: 'Get that son-of-a-b**** off the field' While in Huntsville, Alabama, President Trump said, 'Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'get that son-of-a-b**** off the field right now, out. He's fired.''

Here’s to the fresh fuel for NFL players to engage in Colin Kaepernick-styled national anthem protests.

That would be black players, white players, superstars and third-stringers alike.

Go ahead, fellas. Make a statement.

When the President of the United States, in all of his ignorance, urges his base of supporters to walk out on your game, your livelihood, your principles -- because a number of NFL players have exercised their right to express discontent with some major inequalities of the American way – it is way past time to provide a determined response.

Stick to sports? That won’t cut it now. As if the concept ever could.

Yet the divisive bashing of the protests coming from an intolerant Donald Trump just took NFL Blackball – not to be confused with NFL football – to another level.

Of course, many people who followed the still-unemployed Kaepernick’s lead with some sort of protest – and it’s not just NFL players, but some players on the high school level and in Pop Warner, and some outside of the sports realm entirely – have already been subjected to the type of backlash venom that spewed from Trump.

He managed, however, to draw a deeper line in the sand.

The rapid reactions from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith – who rarely agree on anything – was an encouraging sign of leadership that supplemented the voices from the players.

But now is clearly the time for some NFL owners to step up, as if they needed to wait until such a prominent figure trashed their business – mocking the declining TV ratings, deriding rules changes instituted in the name of safety amid increasing concern about the long-term impact of head trauma and yes, suggesting that people quit consuming the nation’s most popular sport.

By Saturday night, several had spoken up. New York Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy and San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York all called Trump's remarks "offensive." Yet plenty of other owners remained silent.

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Trump “punked” you guys, as the younger generation would call it.

That means you, Robert Kraft. The New England Patriots owner -- whom Trump dined with a week after the Patriots won Super Bowl LI and is undoubtedly one of the “friends” that he counts among the ranks of NFL owners – actually gave the president a Super Bowl ring earlier this year.

Kraft strikes me as a decent man who thinks of the greater good of society. But if he doesn’t denounce Trump as a divisive force that only adds to the racial disharmony in this nation, then it can be interpreted as tacit approval of the man’s philosophical rhetoric.

And that’s putting your reputation on the wrong side of the moral ledger.

When I recently asked Kraft about his relationship with Trump, he didn’t want to touch it. That was a bit out of character for Kraft, who shouldn’t be surprised that someone might ask. Maybe he was just embarrassed to speak about Trump.

Well, Trump is not shy about blasting the NFL – which, like it or not, is positioned as the nation’s most popular sport to make a huge institutional statement in the middle of this political firestorm.

Kraft is hardly the only NFL owner in the crosshairs. While he contends that as a lifelong Democrat he didn’t contribute a dime to Trump’s campaign, Kraft was reportedly among seven owners who ponied up $1 million each for Trump’s inauguration festivities. The others:

Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Robert McNair of the Houston Texans, Shahid Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Stan Kroenke of the Los Angeles Rams, Dan Snyder of the Washington Redskins and Woody Johnson of the New York Jets, who has since been named ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Clearly, like all of us, NFL owners have a right to support the political candidate and party of their choosing. It’s hardly surprising that billionaire NFL owners would support, at least in a business and political sense, someone whose policies benefit big business.

Yet there’s substance beyond money and tax breaks. It’s also about a country that has become so polarized, for which Trump keeps feeding the beast.

Maybe one or more of these owners – and I’d nominate Jones, for one – will publicly clear the air about the protest that Kaepernick launched was never about disrespecting the military or dissing this nation or the flag. It was about systematic oppression, societal inequities and abhorring the manner in which numerous unarmed African-Americans are killed by police.

Surely, these issues resonate with a significant number of NFL players – which is just one more reason why team owners, with all of their clout, should vigorously acknowledge that.

Instead, we still hear the narrative that the Kaepernick-inspired protests – peaceful protests – are a slight on the military or admonishment of the American flag or way of life.

Paying respect to the actual cause for the protest would be a great first step.

No, the NFL – which has a Social Responsibility Department – wasn’t established to fix all of society’s ills. But the NFL is so much bigger than a professional sports league. The NFL is a culture, with so much power and influence. It has wrapped itself in the American flag and to its credit is a common denominator for millions from various walks of life, economic levels, races and creeds.

And hey, it’s a big business that can provide direction for the sponsors it fears losing.

Don’t squander the chance to make a difference, NFL.

A group of four NFL players, including the recently-retired Anquan Boldin, had the right idea when it recently proposed that the NFL dedicate a “Unity Month” to promote awareness, healing and growth, in the same fashion that the league has been passionate with its positive endeavors to aid cancer awareness and to salute the military.

Nothing about the other public-service themes detract from the game. Aaron Rodgers can still carve up a defense while wearing pink wristbands and Jon Gruden can still break it down on the telestrator. Yet the campaigns have served a positive purpose that just adds to the NFL’s broad appeal.

The NFL hasn’t made a determination about the proposal, although a league spokesman allows that such campaigns are usually planned for months, maybe years, and with input from the clubs.

Well, the NFL really needs to fast-track this one.

October is just around the corner.

Follow Jarrett Bell on twitter @JarrettBell.

PHOTOS: NFL players' protests