USA TODAY International Edition
Kaepernick’s NFL career is history, in many ways
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 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, told USA TODAY on Saturday.
The first time Kaepernick took a knee, Edwards, a 49ers consultant, gathered the quarterback’s jersey, shoes and other belongings and 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 U.S. track stars Carlos and Smith made on the medal stand at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. They raised blackgloved fists during the anthem to protest some of the same issues that inspired Kaepernick to take a knee.
“People wanted to make it about the flag or support for our soldiers,” Edwards said of Kaepernick’s protest, “but no, it’s about the systematic murders under the cover of the badge, where nobody is charged or even prosecuted.”
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 exteammate 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 are 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.
Reid, the solid safety who knelt alongside Kaepernick in 2016, finally got a job last September with the Panthers, six months after he hit the free agent market. On Monday, he signed a threeyear, $22 million extension that he maintained helped the collusion case, because he’s still the same player he was last spring. Perhaps, but after getting his foot back on the field with a one-year deal, he was also able to demonstrate value in fitting in Ron Rivera’s defense.
Even so, Reid is not holding his breath that the same opportunity will occur for Kaepernick, especially considering how long the quarterback has already been on ice, or blackballed.
“Knowing what I know, my hope tank is on E,” Reid told reporters during a conference call Monday, assessing Kaepernick’s prospects. “This is a leverage game, so we’ll see what happens moving forward.”
Edwards said it’s his hope that Kaepernick is offered a job from an NFL team, then refuses to play. “I hope he turns it down,” he said, reasoning that Kaepernick’s value in championing social causes — now bolstered by the settlement — affords him such an option.
Edwards was a confidant and resource for Kaepernick during the quarterback’s 49ers tenure and launch of the protests but said they no longer have much contact. He has also talked with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, warning him that more social conflicts loom in the NFL, in part due to the platform provided by the immense popularity of the league.
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 after the NFL tabled its plan to institute the awkward anthem policy that owners voted in May to adopt.
“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 revenue, continues to progress toward the goal that Goodell established to reach $25 billion in revenue by 2027. Edwards, though, points to another trend — the increasing percentage of African-American players in the NFL — as a marker.
Currently, the league consists of at least 70 percent African-American players. Edwards projected that in the next decade that number will rise to at least 80 percent or 85 percent. He maintains that concern over the long-term effects of concussions is a factor and points to decreasing numbers in youth football participation.
“The league will get even blacker,” Edwards said. “The people playing tend to be those who have fewer options, seeing football as a vehicle for socioeconomic mobility. They are more concerned about being shot in the head than with what happens to the head in 25 years.”
It’s sobering to hear Edwards use such graphic descriptions in pondering the NFL’s future. Yet his point resonates as he ponders what has gone down with Kaepernick and the ripple effect that included the sorry Super Bowl halftime show. Several high-profile artists reflected concerns of some minorities and boycotted the NFL due to Kaepernick.
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 that the league needs to learn how to better deal with it.
“It’s time to get this garbage off the road,” Edwards said. “It was poorly managed by the NFL, which needs to go back and do a thorough assessment of how this got so far off the rails. And they must ask: How are we going to deal with other issues that will come over our stadium walls?”
As it stands now, history will not look kindly on the NFL, especially if Kaepernick never plays another down in the league.