Marshawn Lynch sat down during the national anthem before the Oakland Raiders played the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday, but it has not caused the outrage of Colin Kaepernick's protest last year so far, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Lynch, who had retired from the NFL last year during Kaepernick's protest, played for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks before joining the Raiders this season. Kaepernick, who is an unsigned free agent, took a knee during the national anthem last year while with the San Francisco 49ers to protest alleged police brutality against African-Americans.
Lynch, who has a reputation for not speaking to the media, did not address his decision to sit for the national anthem during the exhibition game, but coach Jack Del Rio said Lynch's action was a "non-issue" for him, the Chronicle reported.
"(Lynch) said, 'This is something I have done for 11 years. It's not a form of anything other than me being myself,'" Del Rio said after the game addressing his running back, the newspaper wrote. "I told him I very strongly believe in standing for the national anthem. But I respect him as a man and he can do his thing. So, it's a non-issue for me."
Last September, Lynch supported Kaepernick's pre-game protest to take a knee during the national anthem during an interview with late night talk show host Conan O'Brien, ESPN noted.
"With what's going on, I'd rather see (Kaepernick) take a knee than stand up, put his hands up and get murdered," Lynch said on the show, ESPN noted. "So I mean, my take on it is [it's] got to start somewhere.
"If that was the starting point, I just hope people open up their eyes to see that there's really a problem going on and something needs to be done for it to stop. And I mean, if you're really not racist, then you won't see what [Kaepernick has] done, what he's doing, as a threat to America, but just addressing a problem that we have," Lynch continued then.
Lynch, though, was not alone. Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, who has regularly spoken out on social issues, sat on the bench during the national anthem before that team's game with the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, Fox News reported.
His teammates continued the ritual it started last year of linking their arms during the anthem, Fox News wrote.
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