NFL veteran claims fear is the real reason Kaepernick is unemployed - report
Colin Kaepernick’s ongoing unemployment saga has yielded quite a few things, among them a publicity nightmare, a collusion grievance and countless written words.
It’s also yielded quite a few theories. Kaepernick is unemployed and nobody can agree on why.
Some speculate that it’s a performance issue and that Kaepernick’s accompanying media circus would be detrimental to team chemistry. Others feel that all the NFL owners are racist and are “blackballing” Kaepernick.
One theory that hasn’t been posited yet? That the NFL owners are afraid of Kaepernick.
According to Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, a “veteran player” told him that the real reason Kaepernick is unsigned is because the NFL owners are scared of him.
Apparently, the owners fear that Kaepernick is the agent of change who “could rally the players to stand up to the league, to owners,” according to the source.
“The league is scared of Kaepernick because Kaepernick represents the potential for a dramatic shift in the league’s power dynamic,” Freeman wrote.
It initially seems laughable that the NFL owners would be “afraid” of any player, let alone an unemployed one, when they fund the platform and sign the checks.
At worst, Freeman’s report comes across as a lazy attempt to continue to try and deify Kaepernick. For those unaware, Freeman is a huge supporter of the former 49er.
Kaepernick and Reid not being signed remains a disgrace. https://t.co/OSl4Lsaupl
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) April 3, 2018
However, upon further review, there might be some credence to Freeman’s report.
If the owners fear was that Kaepernick would develop into a major influence for some of his peers, that might have been well founded.
Activist athletes such as Eric Reid, the Bennett brothers (Michael more so than Martellus), Malcolm Jenkins and Michael Thomas started popping up in the NFL after Kaepernick began kneeling.
And if Kaepernick isn’t directly influencing them, he seems to be emboldening loose cannons like Marshawn Lynch and Marcus Peters.
“Fear” might not have been the correct term to use here. There’s virtually zero chance that Kaepernick will be the NFL’s merchant of death, and NFL owners know this.
Rather, the correct term would be “well-learned,” as in the owners have wised up to the cautionary tale of the migraines that a player like Kaepernick can inflict.
Kaepernick’s collusion grievance with the NFL is ongoing. He was last spotted attending the deposition of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
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