Colin Kaepernick is saying that he still wants to play football, while celebrities are claiming he should be viewed as an American hero. But Kaepernick is no hero, and it’s not clear he actually wants to play in the NFL again.
Kaepernick was most recently in the news for doing what any normal (ahem) free agent quarterback would when trying to get a team to sign them: calling for a police murderer to be freed from prison.
As with many of his football passes, Kaepernick’s aim was way off. As in all political debates he wades into, Kaepernick is out of his depth in calling for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.
It’s a trend for Kaepernick. Contrary to his claims that he still wants to play in the NFL, he has made himself unsignable at every possible turn. Kaepernick has said that police are modern day slave patrols and claimed that Independence Day is a celebration of white supremacy, all while defending Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and bemoaning the death of Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani.
1,363 days of being denied employment.
Still putting in work with @E_Reid35
Still going hard 5 days a week. #StillReady#StopRunning pic.twitter.com/iMeJ03IRuB— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) November 23, 2020
For a mediocre quarterback who has been out of the league for four seasons now, all of this makes him an impossible headache for NFL teams now.
Despite being a backup caliber player at the time he started protesting, Kaepernick did have his chances to stay in the league. The Denver Broncos tried to trade for him, but Kaepernick would not take a pay cut from his bloated San Francisco 49ers contract. The Baltimore Ravens seemed poised to sign him, until his girlfriend compared their owner to a slave master and attacked Ravens legend Ray Lewis on Twitter, while Lewis was vouching for Kaepernick to be signed.
There is a reason Kaepernick moved his much-hyped NFL workout at the last second to allow media to attend, leaving behind 18 of the 25 teams who showed up at the original venue. Kaepernick wanted to give a media statement. How did he actually look at the workout? According to NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah, “He looked similar to what he’s been.” In other words, mediocre.
If Kaepernick were to return now (or any of the prior years he sat out), his heroic aura would be tarnished. He is remembered by the media and the political left as a brave man who had his career snuffed out in its prime. In reality, he is a political fool who simply accelerated his departure from the league. His first game on an NFL field would show this for the world to see, so he is content to collect celebrity praise and huge Nike contracts while spouting nonsense along the way.
