This is Colin Kaepernick’s golden parachute, a parting gift as a 49ers quarterback for six seasons and then as an NFL outcast for the past two years.
This is the NFL’s escape hatch, settling on an unspecified amount of hush money to end Kaepernick’s collusion grievance and silence potentially damaging testimony from team owners, coaches and general managers.
The league now can move on to whatever crisis is next after NFL officials and attorneys for Kaepernick and Eric Reid announced Friday they had reached a settlement in a collusion grievance case the players had filed for being blackballed for taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest social injustice.
Kaepernick’s NFL career can move where, exactly? It looks officially over — as if the past two seasons on the sideline weren’t enough evidence.
What NFL team would reverse course and sign him now? All 32 teams passed on the former Turlock star before the settlement Friday. Although terms of the agreement were not disclosed, it probably is a hefty sum that the league’s owners will have to cover.
“We continue to hope that Colin gets his opportunity,” an NFL Players Association release said Friday.
Hope. Sports are built on hope, not guarantees.
There was no statement saying, “We look forward to Colin finally getting back in uniform now that this case has concluded.”
The collusion suit did not prevent Kaepernick from returning to the NFL, just as it did not keep former teammate Eric Reid from eventually finding a new home last season with the Carolina Panthers. Reid, who had joined Kaepernick in his protest of police violence during the playing of the national anthem, recently signed a lucrative extension with Carolina.
Kaepernick had filed the lawsuit during the 2017 season, well after it started without him — and well after he experienced a 1-10 record in ’16 as Blaine Gabbert’s replacement.
Harry Edwards, a 49ers consultant for nearly 40 years and one of the country’s foremost sports sociologists, celebrated Friday’s settlement by expressing hope it restarts Kaepernick’s caerer.
“NOW, sign Colin Kaepernick to a free agent contract,” Edwards tweeted. “Commissioner: conduct a thorough review of mgt. of entire player protest situation in recognition that League will be well over 80% Black by mid-decade w/ other societal issues coming over stadium wall.”
NOW, sign Colin Kaepernick to a free agent contract; Commissioner: conduct a thorough review of mgt. of entire player protest situation in recognition that League will be well over 80% Black by mid-decade w/ other societal issues coming over stadium wall.
— Dr Harry Edwards (@drharryedwards) February 15, 2019
Kaepernick did not land one known tryout since leaving the 49ers two years ago. He didn’t fit their systems, coaches and general managers would say. His inability to read defenses was exposed. His zone-read runs had run their course.
It’s as if they forgot about 2013 and the 49ers’ last Super Bowl appearance. And Kaepernick was way better than many NFL quarterbacks the past two years.
He might have talked with the Seattle Seahawks. He might have been close to joining the Baltimore Ravens. Yet, through it all, Kaepernick remained unemployed while working on behalf of social causes and as a Nike ad man.
The quarterback is more of a household name now than in 2012 when he electrified fans by helping the 49ers to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
That is more than fine.
Kaepernick made it his mission to strive for social equality, to educate youth on their rights and to demand proper conduct from law enforcement, with that latter agenda sparking outrage from police unions.
He also sought justice for his career’s sake, more so to highlight corruption inside the NFL than to score a big settlement. When Kaepernick was a 49er, he didn’t go around collecting fancy cars and frivolously spending his millions — other than to announce and itemize his $1 million endowment for social issues.
When Kaepernick started his protest during the 2016 exhibition season, his 49ers teammates were split on his action. Then he explained himself in a team meeting and won over teammates and team ownership. He left as the franchise’s prestigious Len Eshmont Award winner that is given to the teammate who best exemplifies inspirational and courageous play.
His 49ers career, overall, went from dual-threat phenomenon to polarizing humanitarian.
At 31, Kaepernick is about 10 years ahead of incoming NFL draft candidates and a decade behind Super Bowl-winner Tom Brady.
Kaepernick certainly is in better shape than in 2016, when he was coming off hand, knee and shoulder surgeries.
Remember back then when Kaepernick and the Denver Broncos discussed a potential trade? It never came to fruition, and the Broncos instead cycled through Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum and, next up, Joe Flacco.
Current NFL teams in the quarterback market include the New York Giants, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Miami Dolphins, Washington and perhaps the Carolina Panthers, the latter of which might fit Kaepernick best as an injury temp for Cam Newton plus a potential reunion with Reid.
“There’s a chance that Kaepernick’s settlement (the terms of which the NFLPA isn’t aware) includes a provision that he won’t seek, and won’t be offered, NFL employment,” reported Mike Florio of NBC Sports’ ProFootballTalk.com.
Thus, Kaepernick’s final record as a starting NFL quarterback: 32 wins, 32 losses, 0 ties. That includes his 2-1 marks in the 2012 and ’13 playoffs before his pro career headed down hill and beyond the sideline.
Did he win his grievance via a financial windfall? Or did he lose the right to play again in the NFL?
You make the call.
But don’t expect any NFL team to finally call on him to play quarterback. They paid him to go away, not to stay and play.
