The N.F.L. season has not even officially begun, but after just a handful of exhibition games tensions are rising over players’ protests during the national anthem and the league’s handling of the issue.
After a few Miami Dolphins players demonstrated during the playing of the anthem at an exhibition game on Thursday, a county police union announced it would no longer participate in a discounted ticket program offered by the team. At the same time, Tre Boston, a safety for the Arizona Cardinals, suggested in an interview with The Ringer that N.F.L. team owners had colluded against safeties, implying that they were doing so to justify not signing Eric Reid, who protested alongside Colin Kaepernick when both played for the San Francisco 49ers.