Colin Kaepernick: Please pay attention to me again

Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016. Today he posted a video of his workout routine arguing that he’s “still ready” for a big job offer:

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One reason Kaepernick has time to work out every day, despite not having a job for the last two season: He has an endorsement deal with Nike (notice the shirt he’s wearing in that video). Also, he filed a grievance against the NFL and received a multi-million dollar settlement earlier this year. Initially, rumors suggested the settlement could be as high as $80 million but later reports suggested the amount he split with another player was less than $10 million:

The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources familiar with the settlement, said Kaepernick and Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid’s settlement with the league on collusion charges amounts to less than $10 million total. Previous reports said Kaepernick received between $60 million and $80 million, but the formula to calculate that amount appears to be flawed and likely highly exaggerated…

To prove collusion, Kaepernick and Reid faced a steep legal burden, having to prove that clubs, their employees or agents had “entered into an agreement” to restrict or limit whether to offer them a contract under the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

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So Kaepernick is doing pretty well for a guy who hasn’t worked for going on three years. But given the history, his chances of jumping back into a job with the NFL seem slim. The question is why he doesn’t take a job which he could actually get:

Given all those factors (Kaepernick’s age, his time away from the league, and the collusion grievance), there’s pretty much zero way he returns to the NFL.

Kaepernick is better off giving the XFL a shot, if he truly wants to resume playing football. Of course, it’s not like he’s going to make millions of dollars in Vince McMahon’s relaunched league, which begins play in 2020 (or at least that’s the plan).

But on a prove-it basis, as Kaepernick tries to show NFL teams he is worth signing, the XFL is really his only (and best) option right now.

Earlier this year there was a report that Kaepernick was in talks to play for the XFL, but those talks collapsed when he demanded a $20 million salary. As Yahoo Sports points out, Kaepernick would be an odd fit in a league run by a Trump supporter. So it seems likely his NFL-sized salary demand was his way of saying never gonna happen.

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I guess he can keep hoping someone will give him another chance. The argument is that he’s a credible QB who could deliver on the field for some team. So why not give him another chance?

Here’s why: Even if he could return as a decent player after his two years of absence, that’s not all he would be. He would also, by his own choice, be an ongoing lightning rod for controversy. So the real question is why would any team want to deal with the potential headache Kaepernick represents? When he says or does something to piss off half the fans who buy tickets and watch games, that’s not going to be a good thing for whatever team signed him. Plus, the NFL has already paid him a settlement over this, why invite him back in after paying the price for not doing so?

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