Jim Brown softens stance on national anthem protests, says they are ‘fine’

Jim Brown is one the most influential members of the NFL community to have spoken out against national anthem protests, but the legendary Cleveland Browns running back sounds like he has changed his stance a bit.

Back in August, Brown said he supports Colin Kaepernick but does not agree with any player choosing to disrespect the American flag. TMZ caught up with Brown over the weekend, and he seemed well aware of all the controversy his initial remarks caused.

“I think if they want to kneel and it’s within the rules of the game, it’s fine with me,” Brown said. “I really don’t want to speak for anyone else and I don’t want to be negative about too many things.”

Three months ago, Brown took a much different stance.

“I’m going to give you the real deal: I’m an American,” he said at the time. “I don’t desecrate my flag and my national anthem. I’m not gonna do anything against the flag and national anthem. I’m going to work within those situations. But this is my country, and I’ll work out the problems, but I’ll do it in an intelligent manner.”

Brown also said he believes Kaepernick needs to understand football is a business and decide if “he’s truly an activist or he’s a football player.”

In all likelihood, Brown doesn’t want to open himself up to any more people ripping him the way Shannon Sharpe did. It’s doubtful that his opinion has changed drastically since August.