As you may have read, Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance with the NFL with the claim that he had been blacklisted by NFL owners. If you’re following the NFL, you may have also observed that the 49ers, Bears, Browns, Colts, and Texans have all switched QBs this season. You may have also noticed that Aaron Rodgers will be missing some time and Andrew Luck doesn’t seem to be playing anytime soon. And then there’s the general mediocrity of Joe Flacco, Josh McCown, Andy Dalton, Eli Manning, Jay Cutler, Blake Bortles, and more. The Washington Times even reported that the NFLPA is backing Kaepernick’s grievance. It seems that Kaepernick has a case and some powerful allies until you delve deeper into the topic.
Down Goes Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers is my favorite quarterback because of his hail mary throwing ability, high level of awareness to free plays, hustle, and heart whether his team is up double digits or down in garbage time. His injury dealt a major blow to the Green Bay Packers (4-2). Rodgers is more valuable to the Packers offense than any other player is to his team’s offense in the NFL, kind of how the Cavs are trash without Lebron. Yet Rodgers’ injury has given Kaepernick’s fans the audacity to rally for the Green Bay Packers to sign Colin Kaepernick.
First, I feel the need to point out how impractical this is. Kaepernick hasn’t played this season. There is a strong possibility he is out of shape. But for the sake of this thought exercise, let’s assume he is in midseason form. He’s never played on the Packers much less a similar offense. These fans expect Kaepernick to learn the Packers’ system in a week. More ridiculously, they call on the Packers to sign an expensive backup quarterback(who may be out of shape) to a one year deal and throw him in their next game. If you believe this is a wise strategy, I have a bridge to sell you and a Nigerian online bank for you to invest in. It would take weeks to learn the Packers’ offense and develop a flow with the players.
Meanwhile, the Packers have a guy whose job was to play in this exact scenario, Brett Hundley. Though his performance left much to be desired, the Packers are giving him the keys to the offense in the hopes they can make the playoffs for Rodgers to return. Bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off. Joe Callahan is the backup now, in case it doesn’t.
This shows just how ridiculous Kaepernick fans are sometimes. Sure there are worse quarterbacks out there, but they know the systems they’re in. How on earth is Kaepernick worth the risk much less the guarantee of alienating fans.
Flashback to Maurice Clarett
Ranking the biggest wastes of football talent, Maurice Clarett ranks 7th, in front of drug addict Josh Gordon and all around piece of garbage Rae Carruth(who thanks to the privilege of being famous got a lenient sentence). Maurice Clarett was a college stud who never saw a down in the NFL. His college years were ended quickly as things went south between him and Ohio State. Fresh out of college, Clarett sued the NFL in order to participate in the 2004 NFL draft. The NFL requires players be three years out of high school. Clarett won at the district level on the grounds that the NFL was a monopoly. He lost the appeal.
To finish the story, Clarett was eventually drafted in 2005 by the Denver Broncos. He was fat, unimpressive, and slow to recover from injury. Shortly after, he got arrested for robbery.
Proving Collusion
The Washington Times: Questions and Answers about Colin Kaepernick grievance
Generally, the precedent for owners colluding is to keep player salaries down. In Kaepernick’s case he would have to prove the owners conspired together.
It calls the league’s behavior regarding Kaepernick “suspicious,” ”unusual” and “bizarre.” But the seven-page document does not give any examples of how NFL owners worked together to keep him out. And that’s precisely the challenge of any collusion case.
Kaepernick has a “clear preponderance of the evidence” burden of proof to overcome. Barry Bonds failed to prove collusion and he had a fair amount of circumstantial evidence.
Final Thoughts
Clarett sued for the chance to be in the NFL and lost. Kaepernick is filing a grievance for the same reason. While the cases aren’t exactly the same, one outcome is for certain, he will not play. At least, no court will make an NFL team like the Packers sign him. Whether he can get a court to shake the NFL for money so he can give to illegal immigrant organizations and BLM is another question, but all signs point towards him failing to build a case. There aren’t enough Russians in the football world to help build a collusion case for an activist judge to buy.
