The NFL has a national anthem problem.
The league would like less attention given to the anthem, and now, the owners have unanimously voted to enforce a 15-yard penalty if players don’t stand during its presentation. So, therefore, more attention will be given to the short time between players coming out onto the field and the game getting kicked off.
While kneeling may be a perfectly fine platform for players to protest and speak out, Denver Broncos center Matt Paradis knows for certain where he stands on the issue. Simply, he’ll be standing for the national anthem.
“I know that I can speak for myself personally, I’ll be out there standing for the anthem,” Paradis said Wednesday to the media at Dove Valley. “When it comes to the team policy, that is something as a team that we’ll have to get into that. The owners, they’re the employers; if they want to create a stipulation…we’ll go from there.”
The anthem has been a quite divisive topic as of late, but when it comes to actually playing football, Paradis is feeling pumped for the season to kick off.
“It’s been an exciting offseason, because I haven’t been able to work out to build strength since my sophomore year of college. It’s been a very exciting offseason to squat again,” Paradis said, after having both hips surgically repaired last year. “I haven’t done that in forever. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Denver’s rock-solid center, Paradis, had two options when it came to his hips; have surgery or consider retirement. At only 27 years old, his career wasn’t going to be done yet.
“That surgery can kind of be a temperamental surgery. Not everyone that gets it recovers,” Paradis explained. “The doctors I went to are phenomenal. I think they have a very high percentage rate of success. It was do it or consider retiring. That last year was bad. There wasn’t a choice to not do it at that point.”
That choice for Paradis was easy, even if the risks involved were high.
“I can’t speak for every football player, but I came into professional sports with the mindset that everyday could be your last day,” he explained. “Even if you have a Peyton Manning career; you don’t retire at 40. You still got a lot of life left to live.”
Knowing who’s under center will be a boost of confidence to the team as they enter OTAs and training camp.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Matt Paradis, including his comments about the “No Fly Zone” and how he is preparing for the season, or watch to the interview below.
