Kaepernick vs NFL - Collusion

[Friction]

Collusion is a tough word in this instance and hard to prove. We all can admit he will never get the benefit of the doubt as far as ability to perform on the field. Things against him are 1. His opting out of his current contract with San Fran, which i dont care enough to look up all the details on it, but that was entirely his choice I assume 2. He was about to be offered by the Ravens and his girl tweeted out the typical racist, slave owner blah blah on social media. Again, that is on his social circle, not the owners 3. The fact you have to mold your offense around him and many do not want to do that. 4. What happens when he does not play, gets benched, etc. What card will get pulled? I wont touch all the other off field, political, and fan base related basis of reasoning as it has been all said above for the most part. Ninja said what i initially thought, I highly doubt the owners got together and colluded. Same reason Mixon was entirely off only some teams draft boards, teams will do whatever it takes to win in most cases and will toe the line of appeasing their fan base and the business side of this business. Cks starting record is poor, though only some of that is on him and part of being on a bad team too.

[captain howdy]

Talk about entitled. ..I'm looking at kaepernick, not the little rich white owners.


Kaepernick isn't good enoufh for starting,and is not a plug and play for backup purposes.

[cc texan]

I'm confused as to what law or clause that Kaep is trying to use as the basis for his case.

No one wants a terrible employee, and Kaep keeps finding ways to prove he is or will be one.

[Goddard]

I'm confused as to what law or clause that Kaep is trying to use as the basis for his case.

No one wants a terrible employee, and Kaep keeps finding ways to prove he is or will be one.

What makes him a terrible employee? The fact that he won the 49ers’ Len Eshmont award, as voted on by his teammates, described as the 49ers’ “most prestigious annual honor, given each year to the 49ers player who best exemplifies the ‘inspirational and courageous play’ of Len Eshmont.” I don't remember coaches or teammates saying anything bad about him...if anything, they've all continued to support him. If you're referring to his play, that's a different story, but I doubt that's what you were referring to.

[ppm]

Collusion is definitely the wrong word here. The owners didn't all get together for a secret handshake meeting and agree to not sign Kaepernick. More likely, each team individually decided that bringing in Kaepernick was not worth the media circus that would follow (i.e. Tim Tebow). He's just not good enough to be worth all of the extra headache and drama. Right or not, I'd be willing to bet that's what's happening here. Kaep would not successfully lead an NFL team, so he's not worth them rostering.

Exactly. And it should be well within an owner's rights to decide this.

[Cameron Giles]

Is it collusion? Yes
Will he be able to prove it? No

It absolutely the rich white owners making a stand, but they also have the very best lawyers who will be able to make this go away, and with it, Kaps potential of every signing again. His NFL career is done, and we won't fully appreciate what he did for years to come.

This.

As Denzel Washington said in Training Day: "It's not what you know, but what you can prove."

There is no tangible evidence to prove that the NFL owners are colluding. I think it's admirable in Kaepernick's continued quest for justice, but this pretty much guarantees no team will sign him again.

[onetwothree]

I'm confused as to what law or clause that Kaep is trying to use as the basis for his case.

No one wants a terrible employee, and Kaep keeps finding ways to prove he is or will be one.

Assume he's trying to win in court of public opinion. Put pressure on league to further his cause.

How many teams need QBs? How many need backup QBs? Off top of my head, aside from the Jags, you can make a justification for almost any team passing on him.

Collusion implies that someone somewhere has instructed 32 owners not to sign Kaep and that there is documented proof. Good luck with that.

At most there might be some communication between an owner with his buddy owner asking his opinion if he should sign Kaep. Doubt the NFL owners have a group text message chain titled "Don't sign Kaep or else".

[Friction]

Do we know what his salary demands are or at least roughly what he is trying to be paid or is worth? Is he looking at starting qb money, high end backup money, backup? I know there is a lot of grey area with that question, but does anybody know of that speculation? It obviously is relevant to his accusations against the owners.

[Cameron Giles]

Collusion is definitely the wrong word here. The owners didn't all get together for a secret handshake meeting and agree to not sign Kaepernick. More likely, each team individually decided that bringing in Kaepernick was not worth the media circus that would follow (i.e. Tim Tebow). He's just not good enough to be worth all of the extra headache and drama. Right or not, I'd be willing to bet that's what's happening here. Kaep would not successfully lead an NFL team, so he's not worth them rostering.

I think it's very possible that some NFL owners held private conversations about this and mutually agreed not to sign him. Owners in every sport usually stick together on issues, or follow the unspoken word of a leader (Jerry Jones). Deflategate is a big example of this. The owners pushed and pushed Goodell to continue his fight against the Patriots and they won. Aside from making money, the primary goal of NFL owners is to protect the shield. It's very possible they think Kaepernick is a danger to that.

[Cameron Giles]

Do we know what his salary demands are or at least roughly what he is trying to be paid or is worth? Is he looking at starting qb money, high end backup money, backup? I know there is a lot of grey area with that question, but does anybody know of that speculation? It obviously is relevant to his accusations against the owners.

There's a rumor that Kaepernick's agent reached out to the Titans for a tryout, following the injury to Mariota. They turned him down and gave a tryout to a bunch of washed up QB's.

I don't think Kaepernick is very good anymore, but it's incredibly rare for a 29-year-old QB with his accomplishments to still be a free agent right now.

[Friction]

In the Titans case, do you think it could be the fact Mariotas injury was not significant? He is playing tonight i heard.

[Cameron Giles]

In the Titans case, do you think it could be the fact Mariotas injury was not significant? He is playing tonight i heard.

Sure, but it's not that the Titans didn't sign him, it's that they wouldn't even let him tryout. Teams don't have to pay anything to a player for a tryout. Either you're interested, or you're not.

So, it would be interesting to hear a logical football reason as to why Brandon Weeden is worth a tryout, but Colin Kaepernick is not. Keep in mind that Weeden is 34 years old, has 31 career TD's to 30 career interceptions and has a passer rating of 76.

[Dynasty DeLorean]

Do we know what his salary demands are or at least roughly what he is trying to be paid or is worth? Is he looking at starting qb money, high end backup money, backup? I know there is a lot of grey area with that question, but does anybody know of that speculation? It obviously is relevant to his accusations against the owners.

I don't think Kaepernick is very good anymore, but it's incredibly rare for a 29-year-old QB with his accomplishments to still be a free agent right now.

The strange part about all of this is any team could easily just bring him in for a tryout, declare they didn't liked what they saw, and put a damper on this entire situation. Instead they treat him like a leper and out themselves as having completely insincere intentions.

[Friction]

Yeah Weeden is no good. I was surprised when i heard he was still in the NFL.

[Cameron Giles]

The strange part about all of this is any team could easily just bring him in for a tryout, declare they didn't liked what they saw, and put a damper on this entire situation. Instead they treat him like a leper and out themselves as having completely insincere intentions.

Bingo.

NFL owners are doing a horrible job at keeping their intentions from being transparent. It's as much of a "say it without saying it" situation as you'll see. The Titans even brought in TJ Yates for a tryout. Yates is 30 years old, has 7 career starts and has 6 career TD's to 8 career interceptions.

There just isn't a logical football explanation for it. Some people will be naive and scream "but maybe he doesn't fit the system" but what system does TJ Yates succeed in?