ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Last season Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall took a knee during the national anthem to protest what he felt were social injustices on a local and national level.
Marshall took a knee before eight games last season and he did it alone. Sunday, in the wake of President Donald Trump's criticisms of NFL players who have not stood for the anthem, including calling for NFL owners to release the players who protest as well as using an expletive to describe the players, the Broncos made a decision as a group.
"It's hard not to take what the president said personally because I'm pretty sure a lot of people took it personally," Marshall said after Sunday's game. "Some of the guys came and talked to me and said they were ready to do it. I felt like we all took it personally."
In all, 32 Broncos players took a knee for the anthem before Sunday's game, while tight end Virgil Green and linebacker Shaquil Barrett each stood and raised a fist during the anthem. Cornerback Chris Harris Jr. raised an open hand and several Broncos players who stood for the anthem did so with a hand on a kneeling player's shoulder.
"We just wanted to come together and show unity," Harris said. "... It's always been personal, we just wanted to come together and show we're free, we're men who stand for something, not just football after this, we're fathers, husbands and just wanted to come and show our unity."
Broncos coach Vance Joseph said he addressed the issue at a team meeting Saturday night and that the pregame protest was "their right." The Broncos who took a knee included some of the team's most high-profile players such as linebacker Von Miller and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, both of whom are team captains.
Asked why he chose to take a knee, Miller said:
"Just a list of current events that's happening the last couple days," Miller said. "Me and my teammates, we felt like, we felt like President Trump's speech was an assault on our most cherished right -- freedom of speech. So, collectively we felt like we had to do something before this game. At this moment in time, we felt like, as a team, we had to do something. I have a huge respect for the military and for the protective services -- I've been to Afghanistan, met real-life super heroes, it wasn't any disrespect to them, it was for my brothers that have been attacked for things that they do during the game and I felt like I had to join them on this one."
The players collectively said after Sunday's game that they especially disagreed with President Trump's use of the phrase "son of a b----" to describe players who have protested before games.
Players who chose to stand said they supported their teammates' right to take a knee.
"So many of those guys are positive agents of change in the community. I've seen it everywhere," quarterback Trevor Siemian said. "It's an honor to be their teammate."
"We decided that's what we were going to do," said cornerback Aqib Talib, who took a knee for the anthem.
"You have rights to believe what you believe. I wanted to support my teammates," running back Jamaal Charles said.
Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe, who has previously expressed his support for President Trump, released a statement early Sunday that said he believes players should stand for the anthem but that freedom to express your beliefs was a right for everyone.
After the game, Wolfe said he was "disappointed" in the way Trump "has been acting," and offered that players listen to each other's views in the locker room better than people outside of the league listen to each other.
"Because we give each other a chance to speak and we listen to each other when we speak," Wolfe said. "Most people, whenever somebody's talking they already have an idea in their head of what they're saying, they're not listening to what's being said, they're thinking about what they want to take from it. ... We're allowed to feel any way we want to feel about any situation. ... We're human beings."
Wolfe also expanded on his statement from earlier in the day with:
"I come from poverty, for me it's not a black and white thing, it's a rich and poor thing," Wolfe wrote. "The social injustices are always toward the less fortunate, people who don't have money are the ones who are looked down upon because they're on government assistance. I was on government assistance my whole life, until I got drafted I was on food stamps. I had seven dollars when I got drafted, so I know what it's like to treat you different, like you're dumb, like you're uneducated. I know what that feels like. We get in debates all the time, they're healthy debates. These days people want to say your view is wrong, so you should die, basically. ... If you think that somebody is showing hate toward you, you fight it with love, you don't fight it with hate."