Kaepernick Wont Ever Work in Nfl Again
RIVERDALE, Ga. — Nil almost the way Saturday unfolded should brand you lot believe Colin Kaepernick will play in the NFL again. Not the way his opportunity to work out for NFL teams appeared out of thin air earlier this calendar week, nor the way it fell apart Saturday afternoon amid dueling accusations and simmering anger.
As hastily and inexplicably every bit information technology was bundled, it could have been a take a chance for 20-plus NFL scouts to see Kaepernick throw — even if that's all it was. Instead, it became another Nike commercial, another day for Kaepernick to bolster his credentials every bit a cultural icon, another twenty-four hour period for him to embarrass NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
At a loftier school just due south of Atlanta's aerodrome — and about sixty miles from where his original workout at the Atlanta Falcons' facility was scheduled to take place — Kaepernick instead threw some footballs in front of simply 8 NFL scouts, a few dozen media members and nearly 200 fans lining the fence in what seemed like more of a spectacle than a real workout.

Colin Kaepernick speaks:'I've been ready for 3 years, I've been denied for 3 years'
NFL Week eleven picks:Exercise Patriots win Super Bowl LII rematch with Eagles?
And when it was over, after spending nearly half an hour signing autographs and thanking his supporters, Kaepernick delivered a searing indictment of the NFL, which has wanted no part of him since he first kneeled for the national anthem in protest of police brutality.
"I've been ready for three years, I've been denied for three years," he said. "We all know why I came out here and showed it today in front of everybody. We take nothing to hide. And so we're waiting for the 32 owners, the 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running. Stop running from the truth, cease running from the people."
But equally passionately and eloquently as that bulletin was delivered, it's difficult to see Saturday equally anything but a setback if the goal was to actually play in the NFL once more.
"At that place was an ulterior motive behind it and I remember we're all seeing that right now," said Kaepernick'southward agent, Jeff Nalley.
From Kaepernick'due south side, there were suspicions from the beginning.
Why did the NFL hastily arrange this conditioning on a Sat when league personnel are mostly out scouting higher games? Why had the league tipped off some reporters that this was happening, every bit Nalley declared, several days before the NFL really reached out to Kaepernick?
Moreover, why did the league insist that the workout would be closed to the media and that Kaepernick wouldn't be able to flick it himself to brand sure the footage that got disseminated to teams wasn't edited? And why did the league want him to sign a six-folio waiver that included, among other things, a clause clearing the NFL of potential litigation if no team signed him after this workout?
"This was most something other than a workout," Nalley said. "It didn't smell right."
As Nalley pointed out over and over, no team had requested this workout. In fact, at that place hasn't been any interest at all in Kaepernick over the last couple years. So what motive would the NFL accept to effort to make this happen now?
"Who knows," Nalley said. "I retrieve eventually we'll find out. People accept speculated, is it (Collective Bargaining Agreement)-related? Is it contract negotiation related? I'm not really sure. I think today people were speculating it was legally related, trying to protect themselves against possible litigation but that's not what I exercise. But the bottom line is Colin had to be protected this week with all the crazy stuff going on."
And that protection involved a backup plan. Information technology was clear right abroad the decision to shift the workout to Charles Drew Loftier School didn't happen in the span of an hour or 2. By the time media members made information technology from the Falcons' facility in Flowery Branch, Ga., there were already private security guards lining the perimeter of the football stadium and camera crews from Kaepernick'due south team setting upwardly.
In the cease, no matter the reservations he had well-nigh what the NFL was up to, Kaepernick wanted to do the workout. So when the NFL didn't agree to his conditions, that's exactly what he did.
"He had questions like all of united states do, but he's a competitor and he'due south been telling everyone he'due south been in shape for 3 years," Nalley said. "That'due south why he wanted to do information technology in front of the media so everyone could see."
Just fifty-fifty if Kaepernick'due south suspicions were well-founded, it's difficult to see how anything that happened Saturday gets him closer to actually playing in the NFL.
Nosotros know how this will play out. Kaepernick critics will say that the NFL, whatsoever its motives, offered him a chance to impress teams in a formal, organized setting and instead he wasted their time by pulling the plug at the 11th hour. They'll say this proves he's more interested in building his image as a martyr and Nike pitch man than actually playing football. They'll say that Kaepernick one time again made himself a spectacle, which is not what teams want in a backup quarterback.
At the aforementioned time, because he once once more showed up the NFL and turned what should take been a depression-profile workout into a cause, Kaepernick's fans will only become more devoted and more than aggrieved that he hasn't gotten a legitimate chance. Round and round nosotros go.
"Y'all saw him, he looked good, hopefully he gets signed," Nalley said. "That'south up to them."
Saturday was a peachy moment for Kaepernick the celebrity and Kaepernick the activist. Possibly information technology was never meant to exist a real moment for Kaepernick the football player, so his ongoing battle with the NFL remains as it ever was. But if the NFL's goal was to marginalize him even further, it backfired in i sense. Past taking the narrative away from the NFL, Kaepernick just got bigger.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/11/16/colin-kaepernick-workout-nfl-future/4218811002/
Post a Comment for "Kaepernick Wont Ever Work in Nfl Again"