Colin Kaepernick doesn’t deserve an apology because of George Floyd’s death

As rioters across the country light fires, break windows, and loot businesses at protests surrounding George Floyd’s unjust death at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s name is back in the public dialogue.

Some have said Kaepernick is owed an apology, such as a column in the Orlando Sentinel and former NBA player Stephen Jackson. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees apologized for criticizing national anthem protesters, and so did Olympic women’s ice hockey gold medalist Kendall Coyne.

Does Floyd’s death or the resulting protests change anything about Kaepernick’s situation, though? No. No, they do not.

Perhaps more people will be sympathetic to Kaepernick’s cause now. There hasn’t been a public opinion poll taken since the start of these protests. However, back in 2018, the majority of the country opposed kneeling during the national anthem for any reason. A Washington Post poll found that number to be 53%.

Millions of people found Kaepernick’s actions during the 2016 NFL season, which had nothing to do with his job playing football, to be disrespectful. When kneeling for the national anthem was most prominent in the NFL during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the league’s TV ratings dropped by more than 17 points over the two seasons. According to a JD Power poll and a UBS poll, the most common reason given for fans tuning out was the national anthem protests.

It wasn’t just kneeling that made Kaepernick off-putting. He wore socks depicting police officers as pigs, and once wore a Fidel Castro T-shirt to a press conference. Since the 49ers let him go following the 2016 season, Kaepernick has been even more controversial.

He’s been photographed with Louis Farrakhan fan Linda Sarsour. He donated $25,000 to a charity honoring domestic terrorist Assata Shakur. And he should have lost some of his credit with the social justice crowd for partnering with Nike for its “Just Do It” campaign — but he didn’t. Nike is one of the biggest beneficiaries of corporate welfare in America, it uses sweatshop labor abroad, and there are countless instances of black men being robbed and killed for their extremely overpriced Air Jordans. How progressive.

The NFL is a business, and not only were Kaepernick’s off-the-field antics bad for business, but his on-the-field performance in his final season wasn’t great either.

Kaepernick had a 49.5 QBR in 2016, ranking 23rd among 30 qualified players. He made 11 starts and fumbled nine times. That was in his age 29 season. Pro athletes tend to peak around 27 to 30 years old. Kaepernick will turn 33 this November. Odds are, Kaepernick, who has not played in an organized game of football since the 2016 season, would be worse than he was then.

He didn’t entice anyone to sign him in 2017, 2018, or 2019, so 2020 shouldn’t be any different.

If people are interested in helping the black community, and any Americans for that matter, there are plenty of policies they can push for: busting police unions, expanding school choice, treating personal drug use as an illness rather than a crime (and legalizing some lower-risk drugs), zoning reform, combating usury, and preventing millions of black babies from being aborted, among other reforms.

In the wake of Floyd’s death, there are opportunities for positive change all over the country. Kaepernick’s disrespectful protests haven’t helped at all. Why should he be owed any kind of apology?

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.

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