Last Men Standing: 16 White Guys, No Playoffs

At of the beginning of the NFL regular season, there are approximately 1,700 active players in the National Football League (NFL).
Concurrently, about 1,200 of those players are African American. Of the 28 players selected for the Associated Press All-Pro Team, 20 were black.
The Huffington Post reported that the NFL’s 32 teams earned around $12 billion in 2015 with merchandise sales over $1.55 billion. It’s safe to say that the NFL is powered by African Americans. Yet, it has taken over a year for African American brutality to be addressed by the league.
Over the past year, the NFL has been involved in much controversy over the issue of what to do during the national anthem. The issue was brought about by former San Francisco 49ers Quarterback, Colin Kaepernick in August 2016.
Kaepernick said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” After a conversation with Green Beret Nate Boyer, he decided to kneel rather than sit during the anthem in order to show respect for fallen soldiers.
Since the beginning of this protest there have been multiple demonstrations by different athletes across the nation. Players have received a combination praise as well as criticism over issues surrounding the protest, and have gained the attention of people from different parts of the media.
Colin Kaepernick is currently not signed to an NFL team, but many of his fellow football players are keeping his original idea alive through their persistent protesting from week to week. However, multiple NFL owners have called for an end to the protest.
Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, has said, “Any player who is disrespectful to the flag will not be allowed to play.” This comment came after Jones originally knelt to support his player during the national anthem in the team’s week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Jerry Jones’ bottom line is that he wants nothing to interfere with his money. The consequences of the protest have resulted in some fans boycotting the NFL. Money is important to every NFL owner. So the question is, what if the players stopped making money for the league? What if every black player on the Cowboys’ roster knelt?
Each NFL team has roughly 37 black players. If all African American players knelt, there would be about 16 white players left to play. Eleven players are needed to play offense and defense respectively, and another three are needed to play special teams. This would leave the team with a player deficit.
This would leave Jerry Jones with the decision to either forfeit the rest of the season, or show genuine support for his players. The 32 NFL owners have great power over their players, but the power the players have is much stronger. If African American players in the NFL unite to support the cause, change will have no choice but to come.