Friday was payday for former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, a defensive back for the Carolina Panthers.
The two filed separate collusion grievances against the NFL, and the league opted to settle with both of them, according to ESPN.
The players alleged that because Kaepernick started the NFL’s national anthem kneeling epidemic in 2016 and Reid, who was also a 49er at the time, was among the first to join him, that they were targeted unjustly by owners who wanted to keep them out of the league.
“For the past several months, counsel for Mr. Kaepernick and Mr. Reid have engaged in an ongoing dialogue with representatives of the NFL,” the players’ attorney Mark Geragos and the NFL said a joint statement issued Friday, according to ESPN. “As a result of those discussions, the parties have decided to resolve the pending grievances. The resolution of this matter is subject to a confidentiality agreement so there will be no further comment by any party.”
The exact figures are still unclear on how much each player received. However, Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman reported Kaepernick’s settlement is somewhere in the $60 million to $80 million range.
Number NFL team officials are speculating to me is the NFL paid Kaepernick in the $60 to $80 million range.
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) February 15, 2019
Ultimately, the whole thing is ridiculous. Neither player deserves lawsuit money from the NFL when they hurt the league’s bottom line.
There is no doubt the national anthem kneeling controversy started by Kaepernick harmed the NFL. During the 2016 and 2017 NFL seasons, the league’s TV ratings dropped by more than 17 percentage points. Both a UBS poll and JD Power poll confirmed the top reason for this ratings decline was the anthem controversy (although not the sole cause). This ratings drop resulted in around $500 million in lost revenue for the NFL’s TV partners, according to Clay Travis of Fox Sports.
This also correlates with the NFL’s decline in favorability. In October 2013, the league’s approval rating stood at 64 percent; in October 2017, however, it was down to 46 percent, according to a Fox News poll.
If teams did not want to sign these two players, that is their business. After all, free speech is not even a protected right for government workers in the workplace, let alone private sector workers, as settled by the 2006 Supreme Court case Garcetti v. Ceballos.
Plus, NFL players’ contracts, based on an agreement collectively bargained for by the NFL Players’ Association, have language in them that can justify not signing these players.
In part, contracts read, “He agrees to give his best efforts and loyalty to the Club, and to conduct himself on and off the field with appropriate recognition of the fact that the success of professional football depends largely on public respect for and approval of those associated with the game.”
Since kneeling for the national anthem hurts the league’s public perception, it’s easy to see why teams might be hesitant to sign kneelers such as Kaepernick.
In Kaepernick’s case, kneeling also was not the only problem. During the 2016 season, he wore socks depicting police officers as pigs and a T-shirt glorifying Fidel Castro. In 2017, he made his public image worse by donating $25,000 to an organization honoring cop killer and domestic terrorist Assata Shakur; that same year, he was photographed with controversial Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour, a supporter of anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan.
It’s also worth noting Kaepernick seemed to have some stiff contract demands compared to his playing ability. In 2016, he went 1-10 as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, posted a 49.3 QBR (ranked 23rd among 30 qualified NFL QBs) and struggled to hold onto the football, fumbling nine times in 11 starts.
Even so, he desired a contract in the $9 million to $10 million range for the 2017 NFL season, according to CBS Sports. More recently, he sought a $20 million contract to play in the Alliance of American Football (where players are signed to three-year deals), when the average player makes just to $75,000 per season.
That said, it is understandable why teams would want to stay away from Kaepernick. Reid’s collusion case makes even less sense because he is still in the league.
When Reid became a free agent following the 2017 NFL season, he had a hard time finding a job. However, he was signed by the Carolina Panthers late this past September and played in 13 games for them. This past Monday, he signed a three-year extension with the team worth about $22 million.
Kaepernick was fortunate enough to enjoy a six-year NFL career — until he injected politics into his career while his abilities were declining anyway. Meanwhile, Reid is still being paid millions of dollars to play football. They made choices and people had a choice of how they reacted. Generally speaking, it was negative.
In a business where the agenda is making money, there is no reason why teams should be forced to employ controversial figures just so they appear socially “woke.” It’s bad business, just like handing Kaepernick and Reid money because the market wasn’t that interested in them.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
