DENVER — Although he said he understands the stances taken by his players, Broncos' GM John Elway said he believes politics should be left out of football.
In comments released following the protest of dozens of players — 19 out of 53 Broncos players stood for the anthem last Sunday in Buffalo — Elway said he believes in standing for the anthem.
"I understand the players and the way they felt from the comments that were made earlier in the week. They felt that they had to go down and kneel and that's up to them," Elway said. "Hopefully as we go forward, we can start concentrating on football a little bit more. Take the politics out of football."
Elway said last week — when players from every team demonstrated in one way or another — they showed the NFL is unified and he hopes the league can now move forward.
"I believe that this is the greatest country in the world. We are very fortunate to live here, but it's obviously not perfect. There are a lot of things that need to be corrected, and we continue to work on those things," Elway said.
The protests followed what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called "divisive" comments posted by President Donald Trump on Twitter and spoken during one of his rallies saying NFL players should be fired for demonstrating for what they believe is right.
It's unknown if demonstrations will continue across the league as Week 4 begins on Thursday.
Nearly 30,000 Broncos fans weighed in on a Denver7 poll asking if the demonstration changed the way they felt about their team. More than 10,000 fans said they felt it did, however more than 15,000 fans said it did not. Check out the poll below.
