{"id":1036787,"date":"2026-09-01T11:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T11:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036787\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T11:21:18","slug":"ex-nfl-star-colin-kaepernicks-unfinished-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036787\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NFL star Colin Kaepernick\u2019s unfinished business"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August 2017, the Miami Dolphins \u2014 whose owner Stephen Ross previously launched a nonprofit to fight systemic racism \u2014 signed quarterback Jay Cutler after an injury to starter Ryan Tannehill, even though Cutler had already retired. NFL team executives, meanwhile, used the media to try to throw water<\/a> on the idea that Kaepernick was blackballed. <\/p>\n

Some coaches and GMs did reach out, Kaepernick says, and explicitly told him, \u201cYeah, we want to bring you in, but it\u2019s getting shut down above us.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those coaches, writes Kaepernick in his book, was John Harbaugh, the then-head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Kaepernick spoke extensively with Harbaugh during the summer of 2017. Harbaugh\u2019s brother Jim was Kaepernick\u2019s coach during the 49ers\u2019 run to the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n

Kaepernick writes that Harbaugh was \u201cpushing\u201d to sign him, but was \u201cshut down from above.\u201d <\/p>\n

In October 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL under the terms of the league\u2019s and players\u2019 collective bargaining agreement, alleging that owners were colluding against signing him due to his protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody believes that he was blackballed,\u201d says one former player who was in the league during 2016. \u201cPlayers knew that this would happen. That was a firm belief around the league.\u201d <\/p>\n

Goodell pushed back on the notion of organized collusion to keep Kaepernick out of the NFL. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose are decisions that each individual owner has to make and their clubs, coaches, GMs,\u201d Goodell told NBC in 2020. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve talked to a lot of our clubs about it and I\u2019ve encouraged them. I\u2019d love to see him play again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ColinJesse Dittmar for NBC News<\/p>\n

In November 2019 \u2014 months after the NFL settled Kaepernick\u2019s lawsuit \u2014 the league tried to arrange a midseason workout for him in front of all 32 teams. The details of this day are now infamous, as Kaepernick ultimately called off the NFL\u2019s workout the morning of due to an extensive waiver he refused to sign \u2014 a waiver Kaepernick believed would sign away his employment rights and potential future claims \u2014 and instead managed to organize a workout of his own. <\/p>\n

The dissolution of the workout drew another round of skepticism, with many claiming Kaepernick was pulling a media stunt or was not serious about wanting to play again. <\/p>\n

While Kaepernick was out of the league, the NFL went about trying to turn the temperature down on his protest, battling the aftermath of an especially divisive election and a ratings slide<\/a> some attributed to the player demonstrations. <\/p>\n

The league partnered in 2017 with the Players Coalition, a group founded to address systemic racism, and has since committed over half a billion dollars to various social justice causes. Kaepernick wasn\u2019t part of the group. (Reid said in 2017 that Kaepernick was kicked out of communications with the group by co-founder Malcolm Jenkins, which Jenkins denied.)<\/p>\n

The NFL did whatever it could to stop the kneeling, the former player says, believing the league wanted to weed out players who kneeled: \u201cWhat happened was the league and the Players Coalition came to a deal, and then the league did what they were going to do \u2026 They wanted their games to go back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaepernick\u2019s protest likely cost him tens of millions of dollars, even accounting for whatever he got from the NFL in the settlement. <\/p>\n

But as his career was sacked, as television pundits continued to make personal attacks, and as 986 people were killed by police<\/a> in 2017, Kaepernick stayed largely quiet.<\/p>\n

He says that was by design. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo individual should be speaking for everyone across the country. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a responsible way to approach things,\u201d Kaepernick says. \u201cIt\u2019s also being able to enable other people to step into leadership positions, because that\u2019s what movements actually are. It\u2019s not one person just driving things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months after his workout snafu, events unrelated to Kaepernick raised the volume on his protest once more.<\/p>\n

On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin<\/a> in Minnesota. <\/p>\n

\"ANike included Kaepernick in its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign in 2018. Supporters gathered outside NFL headquarters in New York City after Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league alleging that owners were colluding against signing him because of his protest.
\nGetty Images file<\/p>\n

Video revealed Chauvin kneeled on Floyd\u2019s neck for over nine minutes, killing him. Chauvin was convicted on multiple murder charges in 2021. <\/p>\n

Nearly four years after Kaepernick kneeled in response to police brutality, worldwide protests emerged in the wake of Floyd\u2019s killing. Kaepernick says seeing the protests around the world made him hopeful in the moment, especially as people in some cases risked their own well-being to be heard in the middle of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a significant portion of the population that previously was disconnected from these realities,\u201d Kaepernick says. \u201cIt was like, oh, actually I have to sit with this now and I have to grapple with this. And am I OK with this? And what is my role within this? Am I complicit?\u201d<\/p>\n

Corporations also scrambled to meet the moment, including the NFL. In June 2020, several NFL players coordinated social media posts asking for the league to condemn racism and \u201cadmit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting.\u201d <\/p>\n

The next day, Goodell responded in a video message. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black people,\u201d Goodell said in the video, echoing the words players demanded from him. \u201cWe, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black lives matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaepernick wasn\u2019t impressed. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis response through that video was only because of pressure from players, not because it was altruistic,\u201d Kaepernick says. <\/p>\n

The idea that the league should have listened to protesting players \u201cis so laughable in my mind, and so disingenuous,\u201d Kaepernick says. \u201cWe had been trying to address the issue that the NFL created with blackballing me for years. To come out and say we should have listened on the back of that \u2014 while I\u2019m still actively trying to play in the NFL \u2014 it\u2019s so performative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting the season after Goodell\u2019s video, the NFL began adding messages such as \u201cChoose Love\u201d and \u201cEnd Racism\u201d in the end zones of every stadium. It continued donating millions to the Inspire Change fund. In 2021, the league expanded on its Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for certain jobs. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018End Racism\u2019 in the back of the end zone is a great marketing campaign, but what are the actions behind it?\u201d Kaepernick says. He adds that at the same time the league was putting slogans on the field, it was employing the practice of \u201crace norming<\/a>,\u201d arguing that Black players began their careers with lower cognitive function in an effort to deny them payments as a result of a 2013 concussion lawsuit. (The NFL halted<\/a> the practice in 2021.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the NFL has materially changed. None of their actions show that,\u201d Kaepernick says. \u201cWe have seen it time and time again. For them it has gone back to business as usual, and I think that is a tragedy that we have allowed them to be able to get to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to NBC News, the NFL said: \u201cThe issues Colin and other NFL players raised remain important to the league and deserving of continued attention and action,\u201d noting the league still works with Inspire Change to \u201csupport meaningful progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL added: \u201cSince 2017, that work has reached thousands of national and grassroots partners, backed by more than $575 million in contributions. We remain committed to listening, collaborating, and taking action that creates lasting impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In August 2017, the Miami Dolphins \u2014 whose owner Stephen Ross previously launched a nonprofit to fight systemic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1036788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1036787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117195524570056289","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}