Baker Mayfield will stand for the national anthem

Baker Mayfield will stand for the anthem

CINCINNATI — Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield announced that he will stand for the national anthem on Sunday. 

He made the announcement on Twitter. Mayfield had previously said that he was "absolutely" going to kneel for the national anthem. 

"After watching Thursday's game and also watching the Dolphins player's video.. it shows that it is not about who is standing or who is kneeling for the anthem. Bit instead, coming together and taking action to create real change,"

Mayfield said in a statement. 

"Also after reading many letters and messages over the past few weeks... I have been showed that a gesture such as kneeling will only create more division or discussion about the gesture, rather than be a solution towards our country's problems at hand. With that being said, I am choosing to stand for both anthems to show respect, love and unity to everybody involved. 

I will respect all of my teammates no matter their decision. We have had meaningful discussions on what true change looks like, and that change takes all of us being together. My heart is even more passionate than it was months ago, due to the fact that we are not close to being where our country needs to be. I love this country, but these challenges and adversity are an opportunity for much needed change for issues that have been going on for far too long."

The NFL is playing both the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which is commonly referred to as the "Black national anthem," before every Week 1 game. 

The Bengals are one of many teams that have had discussions about what they're going to do during the anthems. They do have a plan to do something as a team on Sunday. 

"We’re supportive of each other," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "Everyone has a different background. Everyone has a different reasoning for things. We’ve talked in-depth as a team. It was very emotional meetings and we’re not even complete with those yet. We’ll keep those to ourselves, but again, we want to be unified in our approach and supportive of everybody in this organization."

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