Colin Kaepernick’s football career is history, in more ways than one
It’s fitting that this Colin Kaepernick collusion case was settled right smack in the middle of Black History Month.
Don’t forget how this episode began – with Kaepernick, then a San Francisco 49ers quarterback, taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 to protest the rash of shootings of unarmed African-Americans, on top of other social injustices.
“Kaepernick will always be remembered as having carried the burden of that struggle,” Dr. Harry Edwards, the renowned sociologist and human-rights advocate, said on Saturday.
The first time Kaepernick took a knee, Edwards – a 49ers consultant – gathered the quarterback’s jersey, shoes and other belongings, then in forward-thinking fashion, shipped them to the Smithsonian’s African-American Museum of History and Culture.
Edwards told Damion Thomas, the museum’s curator of sports, “You need to put it right next to other great athletes who took a stand at a critical time.”
People like Muhammad Ali. Jim Brown. John Carlos and Tommie Smith. It has been a little more than 50 years since Edwards organized the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which led to the significant statement that US track stars Carlos and Smith made on the medal stand at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. They raised black-gloved fists during the anthem to protest some of the same issues that inspired Kaepernick to take a knee.
It’s a shame that Kaepernick, the symbol of a resistance movement, might never play another snap in the NFL. He’s missed two entire seasons, despite a Super Bowl start on his resume, while mediocre quarterbacks like Nathan Peterman and Tom Savage find jobs in the league. Add the backlash from President Donald Trump and others who detested the protests, and the collusion case that Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid pursued had legs.
Still, Kaepernick, 31, is a piece of living history that is still being written. Although terms of the settlement are subject to a confidentiality clause (Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report tweeted that league and team officials were speculating a $60 million to $80 million tag), many are concluding that the resolution of the case ensures that Kaepernick won’t ever play in the NFL again.
In other words, Kaepernick’s NFL career is history in more ways than one.
While the NFL is engaging more than ever in social-justice initiatives, many of which flow out of a partnership with the Players Coalition that formed in 2017, protests in the league largely came to a halt last season. Reid still took a knee. Ditto for Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills. Others, including Dolphins defensive end Robert Quinn and Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett, made statements with other gestures. But the drama largely subsided.
“I absolutely guarantee you there will be a next time,” Edwards predicted, mindful of our social climate. “Issues will continue to come over the stadium wall.”
The NFL, which generates at least $14 billion in revenues, continues to progress toward the goal that commissioner Roger Goodell established to reach $25 billion in revenues by 2027.
Maybe the settlement provides the NFL a chance for another type of growth. Edwards maintained there’s the burden of an “issue drift” with Kaepernick that can be compared to fallout from the refusal by Rosa Parks to sit in the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
“The struggle is still there,” Edwards said. “His settlement with the league is an aside. There has to be an overall resolution.”
With that, Edwards contended that the type of issues that moved Kaepernick to sacrifice his career could inspire more NFL players – and the league needs to learn how to better deal with it.
As it stands now, history will not look kindly on the NFL – especially if Kaepernick never plays another down in the league.
(USA Today/TNS)