Tennessee Titans CEO: Casey May Misunderstand NFL Anthem Policy

NASHVILLE, TN -- A top Tennessee Titans official suggested defensive lineman Jurrell Casey may not fully understand the NFL's new national anthem policy.

Addressing the Metro Sports Authority Thursday, the day after Casey, in an interview with CNN, said he'd protest during the anthem and take the fine, team President and CEO Steve Underwood said coach Mike Vrabel and general manager John Robinson planned to speak to three-time Pro Bowler about his comments.

"We think there may be some misunderstanding on his part," Underwood told the board. "Because the new league policy does not provide anywhere that fines are made against players. If a player doesn't stand, the teams can be fined, but not the players. ... So, we're not exactly sure why he suggested that he would, as he put, 'take his fine' because there will be no fines levied against him."

"I'm going to take a fine this year, why not?" Casey told CNN Sport during an NFL promotional event in London. "I'm going to protest during the flag. That's what I'm going to say now."

While no Titans have ever taken a knee during the anthem - a point Underwood emphasized Thursday - Casey and a handful of others raised the gloved fist of the Black Power movement during the pre-game playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" last season. Wide receiver Rishard Matthews, whose father served in the Marine Corps for 21 years and whose brother was killed in Afghanistan, opted to remain in the locker room last season after President Donald Trump called protesting players "son of a b----" at a rally in Alabama, a tirade which prompted the team's principal owner, Amy Adams Strunk, who donated to Trump's campaign, to issue a statement supporting her players.

Matthews, who wears a bracelet with the Marines' Globe and Anchor to honor his brother, was, coincidentally, a teammate for Colin Kaepernick, the then-San Francisco 49ers' quarterback who started the kneeling protest as a way to highlight racial inequality and police brutality. Critics of the protest, including Trump, have said kneeling dishonors the military and the anthem itself, though Matthews called that a "distraction." In a now-retracted statement, Matthews once said he'd quit playing football if the league required players to stand.

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The NFL adopted a policy in the offseason allowing players to remain in the locker room if they so choose, but requiring those on the field to stand. Casey did not specify in his interview what form his protest will take, meaning he could simply continue raising his fist.

Under the NFL policy, fines will be billed to the teams rather than the players individually. Adams Strunk emphasized earlier this year she would support the players who chose to remain in the locker room, but was mum on covering any penalties.

The league policy is vague and does not even specify how much any fine would be. It further leaves the door open to punish players without the conduit of the team through "appropriate discipline on league personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem."

"I'm going to take my fine," Casey told CNN. "It is what it is, I ain't going to let them stop me from doing what I want to do. If they want to have these battles between players and organizations, this is the way it's going to be."

In an interview with The Tennessean, Underwood said the team was not disappointed with Casey and that because he is in London, no one has yet had the chance to speak to him.

Photo via Christian Petersen/Getty Sports