One person familiar with the league's program even said the league would be willing to work with Colin Kaepernick on social justice initiatives.

"We wouldn't be where we are today without the work Colin and other players have led off," the person said. "That is a key point here. We listened to our players. We needed to listen more, we needed to move faster. We heard them and launched a social justice platform because of what Colin was protesting about. The players have always been an essential piece of this effort and this campaign. It would be awesome to engage Colin on some of the work we are doing. He's doing real impactful work. Getting him in some way would be amazing for us. There's a lot of work to do to get to that point. We're certainly open and willing to do that."

The person familiar with the league's decision said conversations had taken place over the last week, with Goodell and owners wanting to make it clear that the league's commitment to social justice work was for the long term.

ProFootballTalk pointed out that it is approximately $780,000 per team per year.