Michael Bennett sat with a towel over his head during the national anthem on Sunday before the Seattle Seahawks took on the Los Angeles Chargers in the preseason opener for both teams at the StubHub Center.

Bennett's gesture came a day after his former teammate, Marshawn Lynch, did something similar before the Oakland Raiders' exhibition opener.

Bennett told reporters after his team's 48-17 win over the Chargers that he hopes his stance will cause others to go out and get involved in changing their community.

"First of all, I want people to understand that I love the military," he said. "My father's in the military. I love hot dogs like any other American. I love football like any other American. But I don't love segregation. I don't love riots or oppression.

"I just want to see people have the equality that they deserve. And I want to be able to use this platform to continuously push the message of that."