I will say this. I do believe that the kneeling has a large part to do with the ratings. But other factors sure make It easier not to watch. Others have hit on some of them. Instant replay takes up WAY too much time. WAY too many penalties, WAY too much protection for the players (guess you can only hit from the waist to the shoulders now), WAY too many commercials. There’s a start. Before I stopped watching, these are all things I complained about. And these are all things that make it not so hard to not watch. It had nothing to do with over saturation. I would watch a game or two Sunday afternoon. If It was a good game, I’d watch Sunday night, and always Monday and Thursday night.
The NFL needs to take a serious look at the product they put out. And that includes doing things like preventing and fining players for wearing “honoring the military” cleats, yet allowing players to kneel during the National Anthem.