Kaepernick goes face-to-face with NFL owner in legal battle
Free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick raised a lot of eyebrows when he was spotted working out at a football field in Houston on Thursday.
Nobody was sure what he was doing there, including the Houston Texans.
While it’s still not abundantly clear why Kaepernick felt compelled to have cameras present while he threw the football around, it’s now been revealed why he was in Houston.
Namely, it was to be face-to-face with Texans owner Bob McNair while he was being deposed as part of Kaepernick’s collusion grievance against the NFL. He claims owners are working together to keep him out of the league because of his national anthem protests.
McNair was the first in a long list people who will likely be deposed.
Other big names include NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, per the Houston Chronicle.
McNair was reportedly hit with a variety of questions in a deposition that took over two hours.
Interestingly, there are conflicting reports about whether McNair was blindsided by Kaepernick’s presence.
Some reports said McNair was surprised to see the former 49ers quarterback.
I’m told #Texans owner Bob McNair had no idea Kaepernick would be in the depos today. Completely surprised by it. Depo took place about 9 am in Houston, went about two hours and wrapped.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 16, 2018
Others said the Texans deduced from Kaepernick’s workout video that he was in town to attend the deposition, which is his right as the complainant.
As interesting as it would’ve been to be a fly on the wall of that face-to-face meeting, reports indicate it was civil and far from contentious.
#Texans dispute Kaepernick and owner Bob McNair “faced off” this morning. A team source says the deposition atmosphere was “cordial” and that Kaepernick and McNair greeted each other at the proceedings. So while Kaepernick was there to face McNair, they didn’t “face off”. FWIW.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 16, 2018
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that McNair avoided any unnecessary drama. Kaepernick is the one carrying the burden of proof, and McNair would have no reason to supply him with any ammunition at all.
Kaepernick faces a huge uphill battle as far as proving that there was collusion among NFL owners. Take, for example, the looming deposition of Kraft. The only reason Kaepernick included Kraft on that list is because the Patriots owner is a known friend of President Donald Trump. The president infamously ripped NFL national anthem protesters at a rally in September and specifically called out Kaepernick. The only way for him to prove collusion in that instance would be for Trump to have sent Kraft a memo, email or text message specifically telling Kraft not to sign Kaepernick. Even if true, that would assume Kraft would be dumb enough to leave traces of such a message.
That explains Kaepernick’s “shotgun” approach to these depositions. He’s hoping at least one of them will stick.
Unfortunately for Kaepernick and his supporters, there’s literally nothing wrong with an NFL owner not wanting to sign him because he knelt during the national anthem.
Kaepernick is going to have to prove that all the owners explicitly agreed not to sign him. That’s not going to be easy.
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