Initial reports were that the entire Pittsburgh Steelers football team would forego the pregame national anthem for their game in Chicago after comments from President Donald Trump set a firestorm across the NFL.
Well, that turned out to not be entirely true, as one member of the Steelers did come out of the locker room for the national anthem: left tackle Alejandro Villanueva. And his jersey sales are already soaring, via ESPN:
JUST IN: Steelers lineman Alejandro Villanueva is the best selling NFL jersey & T-shirt over the last 24 hours, according to @Fanatics pic.twitter.com/VpN1bG39Hn
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 25, 2017
"A spokesman for Fanatics, which runs the NFL's online store, confirmed to ESPN that, over the past 24 hours, more Villanueva gear, including jerseys and name and number T-shirts, has been ordered than that of any other NFL player.
Villanueva beat out New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for the top spot. Philadelphia Eaglesquarterback Carson Wentz, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers rounded out the top five over the past day."
Steelers LT Alejandro Villanueva stood just outside the tunnel during the national anthem while his teammates were inside.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 24, 2017
@EdwerderRFA @Eric_Edholm Powerful demonstration from one Steelers player and Veteran. pic.twitter.com/WWWqXPt3Px
— Charlie Don't Surf! (@shawnpgresham) September 24, 2017
Mike Tomlin. No players behind him. pic.twitter.com/GYR0M4EyvR
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) September 24, 2017
Villanueva is a former Army Ranger who had deployed to Afghanistan three different times during his military career. Villanueva reached the rank of Major before entering the NFL in 2014.
Other teams around the league also participated in a form of protest like the rest of the Steelers. Several New England Patriots took a knee for the anthem, while players for both the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons locked arms during the anthem for their game.
The Bears, Patriots, Texans, and Lions sidelines during the national anthem pic.twitter.com/Y74ARlguTU
— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 24, 2017
This comes after President Trump started some controversy on Friday evening, commenting on the anthem protests by saying that NFL owners should respond to the player protests with the phrase "get that son of a bitch off the field."
... trump taking a veiled shot at colin kaepernick, says owner should say: "get that sonofabitch off the field right now... he's fired!!" pic.twitter.com/ttbOd0VrPG
— fake nick ramsey (@nick_ramsey) September 23, 2017
Wouldn't you love one of these NFL owners... when someone disrespects our flag say, "Get that son of a bitch off the field, right now, out, he's fired."
The President has not been shy with his comments, as he doubled down on Saturday amid another battle he waged with the NBA's Golden State Warriors and former MVP Steph Curry.
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