It’s March 17th. Training camps don’t open until July. The draft is in late April. It’s not a question of “if,” but “when” with Colin Kaepernick.
Perhaps his kneeling subtracted enough value that teams were not interested in pursuing him as a first option (I doubt it, there are enough questions about his performance), but after the dust settles and the draft has been completed, teams will have a better idea about their needs at the QB position and he will be picked up by someone, somewhere.
Several people have already pointed out that in professional sports, the NFL especially, if you WIN, you can be like Trump said about himself during his campaign (“I could murder someone in the street, and my supporters would still vote for me.”).
I just want to add on, that there are lots of additional side games that get played when someone is controversial, and Kapernick is a classic example. On one side, are the people who want to take advantage of his overall poor play since his first splashy year (something I don’t think many noticed, is that the NFL changed the rules after 2012, specifically to make is harder for running QB’s), in order to use his controversy to support THEIR personal agenda. Many really don’t give a damn about his politics at all, and just want to promote themselves, so they make self-righteous statements about Kapernicks patriotism or whatever. Often they don’t really care about patriotism at all, they just want the applause that they can get for SAYING they care about it.
On the other side, are people who also don’t care about Kapernicks play one way or the other, or even about the specific issue he was protesting, but want to use his situation for THEIR own agenda. Some might be concerned about racism. Others about the relative power of corporate America.
Anyway, the short version of all that, is that there is the actual situation (Kapernick has proven to not be that good), and there’s the politics and side-issue gaming around the actual situation. And they are only linked at all, because they are attached to the same guy.
Wasn’t his jersey the top selling one after he began his protest? It certainly wasn’t because of the numbers he was putting up so his stance couldn’t have hurt him much with the fans.
I watch football and I think of QBs as prized orchids, some thrive and some wither, and I couldn’t tell you anything about Kaepernick’s stats or future prospects. I do know he has added recognition because of his political stance, and that stance was (afaik) silent and symbolic, highly visible and very effective. He pissed people off, inspired others and made people think. Normally I hate when politics mixes with pro sports, but I do respect the fact that he put his career on the line - “career” being some brief time of physical perfection and skillful dominance that results in high earnings – and that this one repeated demonstration had the weight that hundreds of noisy college students could never achieve. I’m not agreeing with it and wasn’t meant to; I (a random viewer) was meant to receive a message and I did.
Sure it matters. Those Jersey sales are a one time thing due to his protest. It doesn’t necessarily represent people who’ll buy any other merchandise or watch him play. So a one time jump in shirt sales doesn’t mean “it didn’t hurt him with the fans”.
I’ve got no problem with Kaep’s protests. I’m a Niner fan and I really have no problem with the players choice to express their opinions whether its Brady’s “Make America Great Again” hat or Kaep’s kneeling. That being said if I was an owner neither would be playing for my team.
I wouldn’t want my brand to become associated with any political stripe and just like I don’t talk politics at work so I don’t offend someone I wouldn’t want my employees pissing of any fans. There are enough players who keep their politics to themselves that it isn’t necessary to hire one who wont. I figured this was going to happen and Kaep wasn’t thinking clearly when he chose to get out of his contract with the Niners.
I take that to mean that politics is worth, say, +/- 40 points and playing ability worth, say +/-60 points. The better the player the worse (= less popular w the NFL’s perception of their customer demographic) his politics can get before he loses his job.
Said another way, Brady’s better playing could offset more bad politics than Kaepernick’s lesser playing. And right now it looks like Kaepernick’s over/under on those two factors is netting to under.
What **LSLGuy **said - I meant that teams are willing to overlook “bad politics” and other shenanigans if it’s a really good player like Brady. But Kaepernick isn’t a Brady, so he doesn’t get that kind of grace.
If that’s how you feel that’s how you feel. It doesn’t bother me. Personally, I like being a member of a nation that carries a big stick so I wouldn’t engage in that behavior. Not everyone feels that way and that’s their prerogative.