On Sunday, former quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against NFL owners because he believes they colluded to keep him out of the league due to his protests during the national anthem.
His lawyer Mark Geragos told Anderson Cooper that they will produce a smoking gun to prove their case.
From CNN:
“I am going to predict right now that we will have a smoking gun,” Geragos told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “AC360.” “There are people who are not going to get into an arbitration proceeding and they are not going to lie. They are not going to lie. They are going to tell the truth and they’re going to say what happened. They were told no, you’re not going to hire him.”
Geragos also thinks that Kaepernick is at least one of the top 30 quarterbacks in the game, which is a reason why he believes the owners colluded against him.
However, on Sunday, I noted this NFL.com article points out the exact opposite (emphasis mine):
Since he led San Francisco to its first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years in 2012, Kaepernick’s production has tapered off significantly. The quarterback’s already-low completion percentage dipped well below 60 percent in 2015 and 2016 and he has struggled to make strong throws past 10 yards and outside the numbers.His off-field actions aside, the economic interest in Kaepernick from a football standpoint will be an intriguing sub-sub-plot to free agency. He hasn’t produced enough consistently to be a starting quarterback in 2017 for any team that’s not rebuilding, but his skill-set will still be valuable in a backup role.
Kaepernick visited with the Seattle Seahawks, but head coach Pete Carroll passed on him because he believed Kaepernick wanted to be a starter and not a backup.
Employment law attorney Michael Elkins spoke to The New York Daily News about Kaepernick’s case and called it a mistake:
Without hard evidence, such as an email or text message between at least two NFL owners or a team and the league, Kaepernick faces an almost impossible legal challenge here.”Kaepernick has a really tough road to hoe to make this case out. Really tough,” said Elkins, who has exclusively represented management throughout his career. “Unless he comes up with some smoking-gun email or text message, which isn’t going to exist because these owners are smart people, it’s going to be very tough.”He’s got to prove that at least two teams “got together and agreed not to sign him because of his political viewpoint. He’s going to need some direct evidence of that,” Elkins said.
Elkins said that the case only lists “14 points of circumstantial evidence” and simple saying that he is better than this backup or that backup or even a starter is not going to prove his case. Elkins also laughed off the claim that the comments made by Trump as “sex appeal” since the president “exists outside of the CBA [collective bargaining agreement] and legally holds no sway in the NFL universe.”
In a speech in Alabama, Trump said that “sons of bitches” who do not stand for the anthem should be fired.
Even if this “smoking gun” exists, it does not mean that Kaepernick will receive a job. The win would only entitle him “to double financial charges, based on the contracts other QBs have signed this year.”
Here’s the kicker: KAEPERNICK WOULD BE PLAYING THIS SEASON IF HE DID NOT OPT OUT OF HIS CONTRACT LAST MARCH! The contract gave him $16.9 million plus bonuses for 2017.
Plus, does anyone honestly think any team will be willing to give Kaepernick a chance after this, whether he wins or loses?! Yeah, me either.
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