At the Dallas Cowboys' training camp on Friday, quarterback Dak Prescott took a stance against NFL player protests during the national anthem this season.
On Thursday, the team's executive vice president Stephen Jones said that if Cowboys players protest during the national anthem, they would have a hard time playing for the team. In response, Prescott said that decision won't affect him.
"I never protest," Prescott stated. "I never protest during the anthem, and I don't think that's the time or the venue to do so. The game of football has always brought me such peace, and I think it does the same for a lot of people—a lot of people playing the game, a lot of people watching the game, a lot of people who have any impact of the game—so when you bring such controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game it takes away. It takes away from that, it takes away from the joy and the love that football brings a lot of people."
Prescott's remarks have started to receive some blowback from players around the league.
Making the case that the quarterback's stance was made with endorsement money in mind, Oakland Raiders linebacker Tahir Whitehead tweeted, "Sounds like Dak don’t wanna lose that Campbells Chunky Soup deal!"
On Sunday, Whitehead added, "I’m just out here trying to make a difference, how about you?"
In June, Prescott signed a multi-year brand ambassador deal with the soup company.
During the training camp press conference, Prescott explained that he respects players who had kneel during the national anthem, but that isn't the right course of action for him, personally.
"I respect what all those guys believe in," he said. "If they believe it's going to make a change and it's going to make a difference then power to them. But for me, I believe in doing something, action. It's not about taking a knee. It's not necessarily about standing. We can find a different place to make our country better. And obviously I'm not naive and I'm very aware of the injustice that we have going on, but I'm about the actions that we can do to fix it rather than the silent protest."
