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I know I should just leave this alone, but there’s so much inaccurate information surrounding the Kaepernick settlement that I feel compelled to explain a few things. First, stop conflating things. Kaepernick’s collusion grievance is separate from his activism. He legal action
against the NFL was an employment matter. He alleged NFL owners conspired to ruin his career, denying him both past and future earnings. The remedy for this, from Kapernick’s perspective, is financial compensation. As labor lawyers have explained to me, the arbitrator could not
force the NFL to employ Kaepernick. Even if Kaepernick had prevailed in a full hearing, that was never part of this. So people saying he “sold out” are displaying an alarming lack of knowledge about American jurisprudence. The settlement is cloaked in a nondisclosure agreement,
so we have no idea how much the NFL will pay Kaepernick and Reid. But here’s what we do know. Kaepernick is 31. He has helped a team reach the Super Bowl. He has the fourth best touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio in NFL history. He has proven his chops over 58 career starts.
QB is the most important position in the game. Kaepernick was not on a roster the past two seasons. In all likelihood, he will never play again in the NFL. He has accomplished attorneys who were likely working on a contingency basis. Now, any model for a settlement would
undoubtedly include Kaepernick’s past and future earning potential, both from a team contract and potential endorsements. Then there’s the matter of Kaepernick’s image and reputation and how his lack of employment has potentially impacted that. We don’t have the terms.
Granted, it’s all speculation. But Kaepernick had no incentive to settle unless the NFL made a massive offer. And don’t forget the attorneys. Also, the NFL, as a business practice, isn’t quick to hand out money to make things go away.
Just ask all of the players who have fought the league over medical care. The protest movement has been a huge problem for owners, yet they didn’t quickly write a check to try make it all go away. The negotiations with the Players Coalition played out over a good stretch.
And even at the end, everything wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing. At the heart of Kaepernick’s claim is the idea that owners wanted to ruin him because he shined a light on racial injustice. Who do you think will be on the right side of history on that one?
The fact that owners found it more palatable to pay Kaepernick in a settlement than risk facing an arbitrator in a full hearing, with arguments about his lack of employment that simply didn’t hold water, is telling. Kaepernick started a movement that ignited a national
discussion about race. The NFL-Players Coalition deal can be directly traced to his kneeling. He has taken $1 million of his own money to help others. And at only 31, we don’t know what he’ll do next. Kaepernick won. And he has helped others win, too.
