The founder is out of the league, but his footprint — or, kneel-print — remains.

Marshawn Lynch and Michael Bennett have picked up where Colin Kaepernick left off last season, when his national anthem protest made waves. And in a world with president Donald Trump and this weekend’s tragedy in Charlottesville, Va., in which a person was killed while protesting a white power rally, more may be following, according to players around the league.

The first sign that the protest was back, even if the free-agent Kaepernick isn’t, came via Lynch, now a running back for the Raiders, who sat on a cooler before the start of the team’s Saturday preseason game against the Cardinals.

While Lynch did not explain the demonstration, Oakland head coach Jack Del Rio said this was nothing new.

“[Lynch] said, ‘This is something I’ve done for 11 years. It’s not a form of anything other than me being myself,’” Del Rio said.

The following day, Bennett, A Seahawks defensive end, who was teammates with Lynch in Seattle from 2013-15, joined in. Bennett sat before his team’s Sunday preseason opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The defensive end spoke openly about why he decided to become a part of the anthem protests.

“The last week, with everything that’s been going on in the last couple months — especially after the last couple days seeing everything in Virginia. [I] just wanted to be able to continue to use my platform to be able to speak on injustice,” Bennett said.

Bennett, for his part, clarified that his protest had nothing to do with the military.

“First of all, I want to make sure that people understand I love the military,” Bennett said. “My father was in the military. I love hot dogs, like any other American. I love football like any other American.

“But I don’t love segregation. I don’t love riots. I don’t love oppression. I don’t love gender slander. And I just want to see people have equality that they deserve.”

Joining Lynch and Bennett so far in his own form of protest has been Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins.

Jenkins, who raised his fist in the air during the national anthem throughout last season, did the same in the Eagles’ preseason opener, and said he won’t stop.

“I want to send a message that we will not easily be moved or deterred from fighting for justice,” Jenkins said, via ESPN.

The man who started this wave of protesting, Kaepernick, told ESPN in March that he would stand during the national anthem if he were able to return to the NFL — which has yet to happen.