Kaepernick's lawyer claims 'dramatic turn' is coming in NFL collusion case
Colin Kaepernick is facing a tough challenge in the collusion grievance he filed against the NFL and its owners in October.
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has remained unsigned since he opted out of his contract in March 2017, and he claims it’s because of a conspiracy to keep him out of the NFL in the wake of the national anthem protests he started in 2016.
His grievance states that the league and its owners “have colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr. Kaepernick’s leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice and his bringing awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States.”
As Sports Illustrated legal analyst Michael McCann wrote last year, the bar is high for him to win his case.
“For Kaepernick to prove collusion, he would need to show that two or more teams, or the league office and at least one team, conspired in some way to deny him an opportunity to play in the NFL,” McCann wrote.
“The system arbitrator will not decide the grievance based on whether Kaepernick has ‘probably’ proven the case,” he said. “Kaepernick must be somewhat more convincing: He must persuade the arbitrator through a ‘clear preponderance of the evidence’ that collusion occurred and caused him economic injury. The word ‘clear’ in conjunction with ‘preponderance of the evidence’ is noteworthy. Legal commentators who have studied this burden find that the evidence must be compelling in order for the burden to be met.”
While finding something that meets that standard might seem like a long shot, Kaepernick’s attorney suggested Wednesday night he has concrete evidence of an NFL conspiracy, and it will soon be made public.
“I would stay tuned because this case is about to take a dramatic turn,” Mark Geragos said on CNN, according to NBC Sports.
Asked what he meant by that, Geragos said, “Somebody has decided they were going to dime out the NFL for what they were doing.” He didn’t provide any further details.
NBC Sports’ Mike Florio said the attorney’s claim is a big deal.
“Mark Geragos has, as a practical matter, written a check. A big check,” Florio wrote Thursday. “And he either has the money in the account to honor it, or he doesn’t. If he does, then those who have been insisting for months that the collusion case is destined to fail may have to revisit their position. If he doesn’t, then Geragos will have burned a chunk of his professional credibility by making a promise that he failed to deliver.”
Geragos’ comments came a day after the lawyer told the “Straight Aim” podcast that an NFL owner testified under oath he changed his mind about signing Kaepernick after President Donald Trump spoke out against the anthem protesters last September.
“[We] got an owner under penalty of perjury testifying that he changed his mind after he was told what Trump said,” Geragos, who also represents former 49er Eric Reid in his collusion grievance, said, according to USA Today.
“When you ask them … specifically why he isn’t being hired … they say because of the national anthem policy. The only reason — and the owners will admit that — they haven’t signed him is they’re afraid of Trump, and they’ve colluded because of Trump.”
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