Baker Mayfield says he will stand for national anthem to promote respect and unity

Earlier this offseason Mayfield indicated he would kneel during the anthem

In a social media post the day before the Cleveland Browns season opener, quarterback Baker Mayfield revealed a change in his mindset. Mayfield announced he will stand for the national anthem prior to the game.

This changes his earlier offseason stance, where he declared he would “absolutely” kneel for the national anthem out of respect for the Black Lives Matter movement. Mayfield explained the rationale for his change, noting that “kneeling will only create more division or discussion about the gesture” rather than focusing on solving problems.

Mayfield’s full post, where he goes into greater detail about his thought process, taken from his Twitter feed: