When it comes to political expression, does the NFL have double standards?

Following a victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa interrupted several teammates’ postgame interview with NBC’s Melissa Stark to point both index fingers at the front of his white baseball cap. The words “Make America Great Again” were stitched in gold capital letters.

Presumably, the goal was to show support for former president Donald Trump, who used the slogan as a campaign rallying cry. He won in 2016, lost re-election in 2020 and has adopted the message again this year in his bid for a second term.

Nick Bosa crashed the SNF postgame interview wearing a MAGA hat pic.twitter.com/Rj0T0XpcWB

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) October 28, 2024

Bosa has every right to support whomever he chooses. As the saying goes, it’s a free country. But the display — and the intentionality behind it — was curious considering the NFL has gone to great lengths over the last eight years to stop players from making political expressions at games.

In 2018, two years after Colin Kaepernick first protested police brutality against Black and Brown people by silently taking a knee during the national anthem, the league modified its pregame policy. In a vote that received 30 yeas and two abstentions, the owners required players to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner” or remain in the locker room until its conclusion.

The vote, and news that players could be fined or suspended for noncompliance, prompted an immediate grievance from the NFL Players Association, and the league and union ultimately agreed to a standstill that kept the new rule from taking effect.

Still, it was a surprising vote from the owners, not only because the protests basically diminished with only a handful of players still kneeling, but also because several owners told me the night before the vote that there was no need to reignite the controversy.

When the change was approved, I asked Packers CEO Mark Murphy about it.

“We can’t have Trump weaponizing our league,” he told me.

Trump had been particularly critical of the demonstrators, going so far as referring to them as “sons of bitches” and calling for the termination of their contracts. Never mind that Kaepernick had chosen his ultimate form of protest on the advice of former Green Beret Nate Boyer, who told him taking a knee would be more respectful than sitting during the anthem.

Many could not focus on the message because of the messenger. My hope is that the same mistake is not made with Bosa. His actions are his actions. His personal beliefs are his personal beliefs. But if the goal of the NFL is to keep political expressions off its fields, then Bosa should face some type of discipline.

The NFL’s uniform rules state that players can be fined more than $11,000 for wearing unauthorized logos or branding, which would certainly cover a campaign slogan.

Failure to take some sort of action would suggest the presence of a double standard and raise the question of whether the league is more comfortable with a White player using its national spotlight to endorse a presidential candidate than it is with Black players demonstrating against systemic racism.

The league did not return emails and texts seeking comment.

As for Bosa, I’d have more respect for him if he stood 10 toes down in his beliefs. During his postgame meeting with the media, he literally switched hats and refused to discuss his demonstration.

“I’m not going to talk too much about it,” he said, “but I think it’s an important time.”

This is not the first time Bosa has created a stir with his personal beliefs. Before being drafted, he regularly praised Trump, calling him and Ronald Reagan GOATs (greatest of all time). In 2016, he referred to Kaepernick as “a clown.” He scrubbed his social media accounts in the lead-up to the 2019 draft because they included posts that could be construed as insensitive or offensive. San Francisco general manager John Lynch specifically asked him about some of the posts before the draft, including one he “liked” that contained homophobic and racist hashtags.

He appeared remorseful at his post-draft news conference, saying: “I’m sorry if I hurt anybody. I definitely didn’t intend for that to be the case. I think me being here (San Francisco) is even better for me as a person, because I don’t think there’s anywhere, any city, that you could really be in that would help you grow as much as this one will. I’m going to be surrounded with people of all different kinds, so I’m going to grow as a person. I’m going to be on my own. I’m going to grow up, I’m gonna learn a lot of new things. It’s exciting.”

It sounded good, but now it appears he was acting for the cameras.

That said, my issue, for lack of a better word, is not with Bosa. He is who we thought he was. He’s not the only player to support Trump. Tom Brady, the golden boy of the NFL during much of his career, did interviews with a Trump hat clearly visible in his locker ahead of the 2016 election. Trump and Brady both mentioned their friendship, and Brady said a Trump win would mean “a putting green on the White House lawn.”

The concern is whether the NFL might show it has a double standard when it comes to political expressions by players. Kaepernick gets blackballed for fighting for social justice, and Bosa gets, what? Ignored by the league and applauded by far-right supporters who otherwise demand that athletes, specifically Black athletes, stick to sports?

If the NFL chooses to fine Bosa, it would likely announce its decision Saturday, as part of its regular cycle for on-field fines.

Then again, double standards are business as usual in the country’s most popular and powerful league. Commissioner Roger Goodell is known for being heavy-handed with players and soft on owners. Michael Bidwill (Arizona Cardinals), Robert Kraft (New England Patriots), Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns) and Woody Johnson (New York Jets) all have engaged in behavior that appears to violate the league’s personal conduct policy — which is supposed to hold owners and executives to a higher standard. However, none has been publicly disciplined by the commissioner.

I’m not holding my breath that any action will be taken against Bosa. The writing is on the wall, and it’s penned in Black and White.

(Photo of Nick Bosa: Michael Owens / Getty Images)