STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Titans' Rishard Matthews Says 'I Will Be Done Playing Football' If The NFL Makes Players Stand During The National Anthem

And the wide receiver comes from a military family.

Earlier this week people blasted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for what they called caving under President Trump's pressure by sending a letter to every team in the league, telling players, "we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem" and "we need to move past this controversy."

That being said, if the NFL were to ever take it so far as to enact a rule demanding that players stand during the anthem, Rishard Matthews, for one, wouldn't be with it at all.

When the Tennessee Titans' wide receiver was asked on Twitter yesterday whether he would remain in the locker room or face a fine if the NFL were to mandate that players stand during the anthem, Matthews bluntly tweeted back, "no, I will be done playing football."

Although he later deleted that tweet in response to the question, it was screen-grabbed and preserved for all to see.

For the past two Titans' games, the veteran wideout has remained in the team's locker room during the anthem.

Matthews' tweet followed Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle  Gerald McCoy vowing that there would be an "uproar" if players are forced to stand.

"I don't think guys are gonna like it," McCoy said on Adam Schefter's Know Them From Adam podcast earlier in the week when asked about players' possible reactions. "I think it's gonna be an uproar if that is to happen because you're basically taking away a constitutional right to freedom of speech. If guys wanna have, I guess you would call it, a peaceful protest, I don't think it's right to take that away."

Agreed.

Do you think that players would leave football, altogether — as Matthews said he would — if the NFL enacts such a rule?

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