Eric Fisher says photo of him kneeling was pregame prayer, not protest during anthem

It had been more than two years since Chiefs offensive lineman Eric Fisher had shared his thoughts on Twitter, but he spoke out on Monday.

You may have guessed that the topic was the debate about protests during the national anthem, but this has a twist. Fisher was upset with news organizations that showed a photo of him and teammates praying in the end zone before Sunday’s 24-10 win over the Chargers.

Fisher was kneeling with Terrance Smith, Demetrius Harris and Cameron Erving in the photo. Some news organizations, including the New York Post, Yahoo Sports and an NPR website in Maine, ran the picture with a story about NFL players who protested during the anthem.

In his Twitter post, Fisher made it clear he will not take part in the protests.

Here is what Fisher wrote:

“Unfortunately this picture has come to my attention and I find that it is being used on multiple forms of media depicting me as a silent protester. I want to make it clear that this picture is strictly of me praying (as I have before every game of my career) thanking God for the opportunities I have in the great country of America. I have love for each and everyone of my teammates and all of us have the rights we wish to pursue when we take the field but you will not find me kneeling before our flag. I try to stay out of all this but I will not let the media portray me as someone I’m not. I thank all the brave men and woman (sic) who have made the ultimate sacrifice and have bled for our great flag so that we may have the freedoms we do. It is a privilege to play in the NFL... but it will always be a much larger privilege to be a citizen of the United States of America. God bless. Proud to be an American.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Eric Fisher says photo of him kneeling was pregame prayer, not protest during anthem."