For most of the NFL’s lifespan, owners have enjoyed the kind of duality known only to high-ranking politicians of the same era who were free to plot, scheme and exist behind the scenes while maintaining a singular, public-facing persona that kept them in high regard. Essentially the Lion of the Senate, or the Papa Bear of professional football.
No matter your politics, the 2016 election changed the league’s landscape. Pressed by the rhetoric of new leadership, players brought their fight for racial and social equality to the mainstream, most noticeably by taking a knee during the national anthem, a movement started by former QB Colin Kaepernick.