Panthers signing Reid doesn’t end blackballing

Now that Eric Reid has signed with the Carolina Panthers, will those nuts who support the protesters finally be forced to admit that all the talk about players being blackballed from the NFL was hysterical, trumped-up baloney?

Sorry. If anything, Reid’s signing highlights how political his long freeze-out really was, and how politics is keeping Colin Kaepernick unemployed.

It’s still all political. Follow this:

The only offers Reid got were from the 49ers and Panthers. When the disgraced Jerry Richardson, a fitting casualty of the #MeToo movement, sold the Panthers to David Tepper in May, the team jumped from one extreme end of the protest spectrum to the opposite extreme.

Richardson was staunchly anti-protest. Tepper, in a recent interview with CNBC, mocked President Trump for his shots at the NFL and at protesters, referring to Trump as “a red-headed guy in D.C.” and “Howdy Doody,” and calling the protesting players “great young men ... some of the most patriotic people and best people.”

Tepper adds an interesting wrinkle to the NFL quilt. He is not part of the solid majority of NFL owners who tremble in fear when the Tweeter-in-Chief attacks and threatens the league.

Is Tepper a raving, snowflake liberal? No. He is politically conservative. He favored the tax cuts for the wealthy. He is a donor to several Republican candidates. What Tepper is not: a Trump fan.

So if you happen to be a player with protest baggage hoping to get back into the NFL, all you have to do is find a team owned by a person who not only supports the right to peaceful protest, but is strong enough to laugh at presidential hissy fits and tough enough to override the political objections of his/ her coaches, general managers and assorted fans.

It’s a short list.

Jason E. Miczek / Associated Press Carolina head coach Ron Rivera (right) talks with team owner David Tepper, who has called protesting NFL players “great young men ... some of the most patriotic people and best people.”