I have been a fan of the NFL for a long time and follow it year-round. It amazes me that Colin Kaepernick, who was cut from his former team, the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, still has yet to be signed by another team. Kaepernick created a lot of controversy when he began to kneel during the national anthem in 2016. It is because of this that many believe he still is unsigned. It was reported a couple weeks ago that Kaepernick was contacted by the Seattle Seahawks for a workout but, after Kaepernick refused to promise him that he would stop kneeling for the national anthem, the Seahawks canceled the workout. I find this crazy because there have been many players in the NFL this past year who kneeled during the anthem throughout the season, however, none of those players are out of a job for it.
There has been a lot of controversy in the NFL about the players kneeling and standing up for what they believe in. Many people in and around the NFL claim that professional athletes should not use their platform to talk about their political views or to protest. They claim that if the athletes do this it will hurt the NFL’s ratings. I find this hard to believe for a couple of reasons. First, the NFL has been struggling with declining ratings for some time now. It has been an issue before players began to kneel. Secondly, according to Darren Rovell who is an ESPN reporter, the NBA’s ratings for the first playoff games this past weekend were up 17% and were the highest in five years. This NBA stat is important because the NBA has become known for allowing their players to stand up and speak for what they believe in. Considering this, it is hard to believe that players who kneel are really affecting the NFL’s ratings.
It will be interesting to see if Kaepernick, who is more than talented enough to be on an NFL roster will find a team this offseason. I hope the owners in the NFL will realize that players kneeling are not whats hurting their ratings and give Kaepernick a chance.
I recently have become aware that the Seattle Seahawks would not give Colin Kaepernick a fair chance to compete because of his political stance on social inequity. I believe that the league is punishing Colin as a form of making an example out of someone and since he was a the figure head of the “take a knee” moment he must be the person that is eximpfied. The league hopes that this will discourage people from protesting and “disrespecting” the league. Colin Kaepernick is a huge role model as result of this fiasco. Any human that would reject million dollar contracts just to take a knee because he knows what he represents is far beyond football.
Just like you I hope that Kaepernick can find employment in the NFL. But, since I know how billion dollar industries work I know that this will not be a reality because one player is not worth it when you use humans as a source of profit. The NFL has the “next man up” mentality.