Darrell Moody: Dissecting NFL’s stance on National Anthem

The National Football League didn’t help itself when the new ruling about the national anthem was announced last week.

The new rule states if players are on the field when the national anthem is played, they must stand. The rule also states players don’t have to be on the field for the national anthem.

I think the league should’ve done one of two things. Either make the players stand for the anthem or just have the anthem when both teams are in the locker room. If both team are in the locker room, you cancel out the protests. If a player protests, don’t let him play in the game. Maybe that would make a difference.

With this new rule, you know the media is going to jot down who was or wasn’t on the field, and the guys that weren’t on the field are going to have to answer questions after the game. It opens up a can of worms when a lot of the anthem protests had died down toward the end of the season.

This is something that should have been voted on by ALL of the players. All the owners did is talk to some player reps. Again, it proves the owners don’t care what the players think in the NFL.

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I’m still somewhat shocked Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. Somebody told me once Kaepernick was a “scumbag” because of his anthem protests.

Are you kidding me? Kaepernick has always handled things with class and dignity in good times and bad. He knelt for the national anthem. He didn’t break a rule, he just demonstrated his disappointment with social issues. That is/was his First Amendment right. He did it in a peaceful manner. I doubt he knew at the time he could be jeopardizing his career. Will he ever play again? I’m not sure. Even if he wins the collusion case, teams still don’t have to offer him a chance to play.

That would be a shame because he’s good enough to be a back-up on probably every team in the NFL. There are some teams that could use a mobile quarterback, and maybe with the right coaches he could get his game back where it used to be.

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The Raiders could use a guy like Kaepernick to back up Derek Carr. Even right now, Kaepernick is better than both current No. 2 Connor Cook and recently acquired Christian Hackenberg, who couldn’t even cut it with the Jets.

Hackenberg has been in the league two years and has yet to take a regular-season snap. New York has won just 10 games in that stretch, and the team has gone through several quarterbacks during that stretch. If you can’t crack a bad lineup like the Jets, how do the Raiders think he could cut the mustard if Carr goes down again this year?

Hackenberg cost the Raiders a conditional seventh-round pick, so it was a cheap trade. Still, there are players out there better than Hackenberg. I know head coach Jon Gruden is considered a good quarterback coach, but I’m not sure what he sees. Is Hackenberg a “system quarterback?” Will the Raiders’ offense better suit his skill set?