RENTON — Pete Carroll is many things to his Seahawks.
Motivator. Supporter. Mentor. Fun-loving kid who brings Kendrick Lamar to practice, blares rap music through drills and meetings and leads free-throw shooting contests.
This week, he’s a juggler.
The 65-year-old coach is conducting a personal balancing act regarding Michael Bennett. Carroll thinks everyone — football players, coaches, staff, fans in the stands — should stand for our national anthem.
But he supports Bennett’s decision not to before games. That’s because he supports the causes to which Pro Bowl defensive end’s protest is calling attention.
On a day Seahawks top wide receiver and team leader Doug Baldwin said he’s considering joining Bennett’s protest against treatment of minorities in our country, Seattle’s coach publicly backed his Pro Bowl defensive end’s choice to sit during the national anthem.
But Carroll made clear he believes all Americans should stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sporting events.
“I support the heck out of his concerns and his issues and all of that,” Carroll said of Bennett following Tuesday’s practice at training camp. “When it comes to it, I love our country. And I think we should all stand for our opportunities when the flag is represented.
“But the fact that his heart is in a great place, and he’s going to do great work well after the time that he’s with us, it’s easy for me to support him in that in his issues.
“But I think we should all be standing up when they play the national anthem.”
Carroll said he doesn’t know whether Bennett will continue the protest he began at Sunday’s preseason opener at Friday’s second exhibition Friday against Minnesota at CenturyLink Field. Bennett said outside the locker room after that game in Carson, California, he will continue to sit during anthems before games.
Jeremy Lane, the cornerback who last summer sat on the Seahawks’ bench in Oakland before a preseason game to support Colin Kaepernick’s protest, was asked by The News Tribune Tuesday if he will join Bennett in sitting.
“We’ll see,” Lane said.
So this issue isn’t going away anytime soon with the Seahawks.
Neither is the backlash.
“We’ve talked a lot about all that is going to come to him, and listen very carefully to people’s perspectives and stay very true and be very much in the middle, so that he doesn’t get one way or the other by somebody else’s concerns, somebody else’s issues,” Carroll said of Bennett.
“I’ll continue to support him and help him in every way. We’ll visit regularly, and hopefully we can help him make sense of all the different things that come his way.”
As head coach, Carroll of course has the authority to insist Bennett stand during the anthem like every other Seahawk. Bennett was the lone player sitting during Sunday’s anthem while about 100 teammates, coaches, team doctors and staff were standing all around him locked arm in arm along Seattle’s sideline during the song.
Asked if he has considered that aspect of team unity, Carroll said: “We have talked about that.
“And we talked about it a lot last year (when the Seahawks began standing with interlocked arms during anthems before games, after Kaepernick was kneeling during anthems in protest).
“ This (Bennett’s protest) was a little bit of a surprise. I didn’t know it was coming, so we hadn’t addressed it going in. So, we’ll see.
“This is a very connected football team. And everybody has really come here to do something special, and to do it together. And so whatever happens from that point forward, we’ll be working on it, and we’ll see where it goes.”
Bennett’s sitting during the anthem Sunday drew national attention — plus controversy and ire. CNN interviewed him following Tuesday’s practice.
CNN wasn’t interviewing him last week. So in that way, Bennett is achieving his goal of more attention on his cause: the treatment of minorities in this country.
Many fans and citizens believe by sitting during the anthem he disrespected traditional symbols, history and representations of our country. Bennett and his supporters say that view is missing the point of the protest and its message: the need to fix society’s treatment of minorities.
Bennett said Sunday his aim by sitting during anthems at games is to take Americans “out of their comfort zone” about how race relations are in our country.
It increasingly likely that what happened in Southern California before Sunday’s game won’t exactly be what happens before Friday’s preseason game in Seattle. Between Baldwin saying he and Bennett are going to be talking about what to do next and their coach’s consideration of team unity going forward, any pregame protest may have a different appearance this week.
Then again, the Seahawks may decide to continue to let Bennett go on in his selected way.
BALDWIN, LYNCH TALK
Is Baldwin think about joining Bennett in his protest?
“Absolutely,” Baldwin said.
“We are going to have a conversation here shortly. And, again, we do things as a — we try to do things as a team. We’ll see how we can support Mike in this situation.”
Baldwin returned to practice Tuesday after being out since Thursday for a foot strain.
He said he has talked to former Seahawks teammate Marshawn Lynch since the star running back sat during the anthem just before his Oakland Raiders played a preseason game in Arizona on Saturday.
“Yeah, I talked to Marshawn,” Baldwin said.
Asked if Lynch’s reason for sitting was the same as Bennett’s, Baldwin said with a grin: “You are going to have to ask Marshawn. You know why I am here.”
Baldwin said, “we, as a society” should be proud of Bennett’s explanation Sunday for why he sat.
“I think we take for granted the fact that, in our country, we have freedom of speech,” Baldwin said. “I think we should be proud of individuals that feel strongly about certain topics and certain situations that happen in our country. … To further Mike’s point, there are things going on in our country and in our communities that people don’t agree with. Who am I or who are we to tell individuals that are in this community that their opinions, their thoughts are wrong?
“I firmly believe the purpose, the thought, behind everything is to better our society. It’s not to be divisive. It’s not to be negative. I fully support Mike in his message and in his thoughts — and definitely in the way he went about them.”
WRIGHT AWAY FOR KNEE TREATMENT
Pro Bowl linebacker K.J. Wright is away from the Seahawks with no exact return date known.
“He’s got a little process that we’re going through to help us with something that’s been kind of nagging him,” Carroll said. “He’s out of town working on that this week.”
The coach said Wright is not having surgery.
Wright played 13 snaps in Seattle’s preseason opener. He exited in the first quarter with the rest of the starting defense in the usual exhibition-game cameo.
Tuesday during practice, Terence Garvin was in Wright’s spot as weakside linebacker.
EXTRA POINTS: WR Paul Richardson surprised the team by practicing two days after spraining his right shoulder making a catch against the Chargers. Carroll said that indicated Richardson will be ready for the season opener Sept. 10 at Green Bay, after all. … Carroll confirmed the Seahawks hosted free-agent cornerback Tramaine Brock on Tuesday saying Seattle is “trying to figure it out, checking it out” in regards to adding an available NFL veteran starter, “as we always do.” Brock has started the last two seasons for San Francisco. In April he was accused in a police report in Santa Clara, California, of domestic assault against the mother of his children. The 49ers released the 28-year-old veteran of seven NFL seasons almost immediately, a decisive act by new general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan that set a new standard on that team. Felony domestic-assault chargers were filed against him in June. … The starting offensive line was different again Tuesday, the 13th practice of training camp. Mark Glowinski was the right guard, after Oday Aboushi started the preseason opener. The rest of the line was the same as Sunday: George Fant at left tackle, Luke Joeckel at left guard, Justin Britt at center and Germain Ifedi at right tackle. … Jeremy Lane practiced position drills for the first time in 10 days. He said he strained his groin in practice but could have played Sunday. The veteran cornerback and nickel back vows he’ll play Friday against Minnnesota, and Carroll said there’s a very good chance of that. While Lane watched team scrimmaging Tuesday, rookie Shaquill Griffin was again the starting right cornerback and DeAndre Elliott the nickel.
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