Colin Kaepernick has made a lot of headlines over the course of the last two weeks after refusing to stand during the national anthem prior to 49ers preseason games against the Packers and Chargers. But in the coming days, he’s probably not going to be alone in his protest. Kaepernick’s teammate Eric Reid and Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane have joined him in not standing for The Star-Spangled Banner, and according to Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin, the entire Seahawks team is planning to hold a "pregame demonstration of unity" prior to the team’s season-opening game against the Dolphins on Sunday.
Baldwin first suggested that his team might take some sort of stand on Wednesday when he spoke with reporters. His teammate Bobby Wagner also said that players on the team were trying to figure out a way to join Kaepernick in protest and emphasized that they wanted to do something as a collective unit. "Anything we want to do, it’s not going to be individual," Wagner said, "It’s going to be a team thing. That’s what the world needs to see. The world needs to see people coming together versus being individuals...Whatever we decide to do will be a big surprise."
And on Thursday afternoon, Baldwin confirmed that the Seahawks have something up their sleeves for Sunday. Without going into great detail, he announced on Twitter that Seahawks players have come up with a way to make a statement as a team:
Former Seahawks long snapper Nate Boyer—an ex-Green Beret who met with Kaepernick last Thursday before standing next to him as he kneeled during the national anthem prior to a 49ers preseason game against the Chargers—also took to Twitter to say that Seattle has something special in store for the pregame ceremonies on Sunday:
Chances are, the Seahawks aren’t the only team planning to do something as part of the protest that Kaepernick started. There will likely be players from a bunch of teams who will either join Kaepernick by not standing during the national anthem or come up with another way to show that they are supporting what he’s doing right now. But if the Seahawks are able to get their entire team to do something on Sunday, it will obviously send a strong message. It'll be interesting to see what they end up doing before taking the field for their first game.
