The NFL’s mishandling of Colin Kaepernick and Police brutality issue

In 2016 Colin Kaepernick was a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick was coming off three surgeries, one to his thumb, knee and season ending shoulder surgery. Prior to this season, Kaepernick led the 49ers to the super bowl in 2013 and the NFC championship in 2014. Injuries and a few down seasons had put Kaepernick’s career at a crossroads.

In the 49ers third preseason game of 2016, Kaepernick was noticed sitting down during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as opposed to the tradition of standing. During a post-game interview, he explained why he was sitting, ” I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder”, Kaepernick was referencing a series of African-American deaths caused by law enforcement that led to the Black Lives Matter movement and adding that he would continue to protest until he feels like ” [The American Flag] represents what it’s supposed to represent”.

In the 49ers fourth preseason game Kaepernick kneeled during the U.S. national anthem to show more respect to former and current U.S. military while still protesting during the anthem after having a conversation with former NFL player and U.S. military veteran Nate Boyer.

After the September 2016 police shootings of Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, Kaepernick commented publicly on the shootings saying, “this is a perfect example of what this is about”. Kaepernick knelt during the anthem prior to every 49ers game that season.

Inspired by Kaepernick, other NFL players and pro athletes conducted various forms of silent protests during the national anthem. The NFL experienced an 8 percent decline in viewership that season with the No. 1 reason, cited by 30 percent of fans in a J.D. Power survey, being the player protests. Then- 49ers head coach Chip Kelly later said that Kaepernick was “zero distraction” during that season.

After the 2016 season, the 49ers fired Kelly and hired Kyle Shanahan to be their new coach. Shanahan didn’t believe Kaepernick was a fit for his offensive system. The 49ers told Kaepernick that they planned to release him. On March 3, 2017, he opted out of his contract and became a free agent at the start of the 2017 league year.

Kaepernick, who had just led the 49ers to the NFC championship as recently as 2014, went unsigned through the whole 2017 off season and 2017 training camp. Allegations started that Kaepernick was being blackballed because of his on-field political statements. The Baltimore Ravens considered signing Kaepernick as a backup quarterback before the 2017 season. The team did not go through with this as their owner Steve Bisciotti reportedly believed the signing would cause heavy backlash and criticism from the public.

In October 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL, accusing league owners of collusion to keep him out of the league. On February 15, 2019, it was announced that Kaepernick settled with the NFL and withdrew the grievance.

The NFL didn’t even have players on the field for the national anthem before 2009, but the issue became a lightning rod for discussions about race, inequality and patriotism. Most detractors of the peaceful protests would overlook the police brutality aspect. Soon to be President Donald Trump and conservatives in the Republican party became the primary opponents to the protesting and helped politicize the entire issue.

In October 2017, Vice President Mike Pence left a 49ers/ Indianapolis Colts game when members of the 49ers knelt during the anthem (keep in mind Kaepernick was out of the league at this point). Some conservatives urged a boycott of NFL games in response.

The Republican National Committee even used the issue as a fundraiser, sending emails to constituents stating, “When the national anthem plays, President Trump proudly stands and places his hand over his heart out of respect for our flag, our country, and our heroes.”

Trump and conservatives kept making speeches, tweets and commentaries about the National Anthem protests. Given 30 of the 32 NFL owners are old white males and most are Republican, they caved to the political pressure. Also, none of the 30 can remotely relate to Police brutality. The Republican party had successfully morphed a peaceful protest about police brutality into an issue of “Patriotism”.

Soon the NFL ownership and powers that be responded to the protests. Then Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, compared protesting players to “inmates running the prison.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to team owners saying, “Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem.” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said any player who protested would be benched, Trump tweeted his approval of the statement. Friendly reminder that police brutality is just buried in the discussions of the protests at this point.

In May 2018, the NFL and the owners agreed to a policy in which they expected players to stand for the anthem if they were on the sidelines, but players were given the option of remaining in the locker room instead. The proposal was rightly mocked and never put into action. Trump tweeted that players who kneel should be banned for the season without pay (thankfully the NFL never took on Trump’s rule “suggestion”). New York Republican Congressman Peter King, compared NFL protests to “players giving Nazi salutes”.

On November 12, 2019, the NFL set up a workout for Kaepernick in Atlanta. Typically NFL teams schedule workouts for Tuesdays, when head coaches and general managers can more readily attend, this workout was planned for a Saturday. 30 minutes before the workout, Kaepernick nixed the workout plans because of concerns about the workout not being public and issues with the liability waiver the NFL asked him to sign. Kaepernick moved the workout to a high school where scouts for 7 NFL teams watched it. As of this writing, Kaepernick is still unsigned. I would argue that Kaepernick is still better than at least two projected starting quarterbacks in the NFL right now (looking at you Chargers and Jaguars).

Unless you have been living under a rock, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has set America in turmoil. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Donald Trump both released statements saying how they are saddened by the tragic death of Floyd. It’s ironic how only a few years ago the NFL was only concerned with its financial bottom line. Peaceful protesting was bad for business and turning off its white conservative fans. The original reason behind the NFL protests, police brutality is the same thing that killed George Floyd! Yet, it takes another tragic murder and nationwide protests and rioting for the NFL to issue a half hearted sympathy statement.

The NFL had its chance to be courageous, get out in front of this issue and do something for the greater good instead of its wallet, and it buckled to financial, political and fan pressure from some of its base. It also blackballed Kaepernick for good measure too. Where did that get them? A few extra bucks, but on the wrong side of history on the police brutality issue.