NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem are doing so to protest aggressive police practices against people of color, and in particular the killing of unarmed people.
Right wingers are distorting the protests by making them all about the anthem, the flag, and our servicemen; the reason for the protests are drowned out by the right’s loud rhetoric.
I suggest the discussion could be turned back to the reason for the protests if each player who kneeled displayed a photo of a person unjustifiably killed by police. (See mockup above.)
Holding the photos would keep the discussion where it belongs: the issue is not the anthem, but murderous police practices.