The ongoing saga that is the Colin Kaepernick story added another chapter last week. For the last 3years, Colin has maintained that he is ready to play in the NFL if any team wants him. He has posted work out videos and said that he still wants to play in the NFL. No NFL team has come near him since he was released and I refuse to believe it is for “footballing reasons” as many teams have said. How can a guy go from being one throw away from being in the Superbowl to now not having what it takes to even make a starting lineup, especially when I see a less talented quarterback starting in the league week in and week out.
For 3 years, Kap has been waiting for a chance to prove he still has what it takes to play in the NFL and last week the NFL finally organized a workout for him. However, they told him about this work out on a Tuesday that they had scheduled for that Saturday. When Kap’s representatives asked if they could move it back a week or two so that Kap had time to prepare the NFL said no! Kap agreed to come to the work out and maybe have a chance to do what he loves again.
Now I am not exactly sure when this next part came in with regards to the waiver the NFL wanted Kap to sign but here is the gist of the situation. The NFL wanted Kap to sign a waiver that would not allow him to protest anymore if he is signed by an NFL team. The waiver also would protect the NFL from any further action against them by Kap and his legal team. One person close to the situation, a lawyer no less, said that if he asked a client to sign such a document he would open himself up to a malpractice law suit and that the waiver had ridiculous demands in it. The NFL also excluded the media from the work out, something Kap had specifically asked for. Basically, “listen here boy, you do this my way, or you don’t play!” is the message the NFL was trying to send to Kap.
Colin decided not do the NFL workout and instead scheduled his own workout at a high school an hour away from where the NFL chose to do the workout. Kap received a lot of backlash for doing this but I think it was brave of him. First to tell them no, and second to have his own workout when he knew many may not be present. In fact only representatives from eight NFL teams showed up to Kap’s workout out of the 25 that were in Atlanta to see him at the NFL’s scheduled workout.
Many people have come out and said Kap is ungrateful and that he does not deserve a chance to play anymore because of what he did but put yourself in Kap’s shoes. He is fighting for something greater than himself with his activism. Colin Kaepernick I believe will go down in the history books alongside the likes of Doctor King and Malcolm X for what he has done and continues to do for the black community in America. He is fighting the good fight and doing it the right way. He is not giving in to pressure, not dropping his morals and beliefs just to play in the NFL. He has the money to do what he is doing but for most people giving up the job they love would be impossible, yet that is what Colin has done.
If Colin Kaepernick wants to play in the NFL, again one day I do believe he will have to make a compromise of some sort but as we have seen, Kap will not be pushed around, that compromise will not be at the expense of his morals, and I do not think that most people would do that sadly. I think most people would take their medicine, so to speak, and listen to the NFL. People seem to think Kap is challenging the NFL for publicity but I see it different. I think he is challenging them to be better, better than they have been in the past. Kap is trying to effect long lasting change in the game that he loves and the country as a whole and he is willing to sacrifice his own career to do that. As I have said previously, Kap will only really be appreciated in years to come but I do believe Kap’s story can be the catalyst for change in the NFL and America. Kap may never take another snap in the NFL and that is okay because Kap’s story will be written off the field and his legacy will last longer than any Superbowl win would have so I commend him for his efforts thus far and I support him fully moving forward. I hope he has the chance to prove his haters wrong on the field one day! Oh what a glorious day that will be!
