For months now, story after story has been written about WHY teams were allegedly reluctant to sign Colin Kaepernick. “Sources” cited everything from an alleged drop off in skill, to his body being too beaten up, to feared backlash from fans, to even the idea that his vegan diet would make him too susceptible to injury. And to be clear, up to this point the propaganda has obviously worked. To date, Kaep has received few-if any calls at all.
Sadly, none of those justifications presented so far carry any weight. Already having played through a full season since his refusal to stand for The National Anthem was first noticed in a Twitter Pic by Niner’s Nation reporter Jennifer Lee Chan, and later reported on by profootballtalk.com. Of course there was a huge backlash, but Kaep’s stance was also supported by a larger majority of fans, fellow athletes, celebrities, and even veterans. By week six of the 2016 season, Kaep had regained a starting QB role that he had previously lost while playing with an injured arm-and while his numbers were far from elite, they were far better than any of the quarterbacks that have signed with new teams so far in 2017. Playing on the numerically second-worst team in The NFL, Colin Kaepernick had a 90.7 QB Rating and threw for 2,241 yards. He also threw 21 touchdowns-versus only four interceptions. These stats were amassed in only 12 games, and on one of the weakest rosters in all of The NFL (go ahead, name three players without using Google).
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said. “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.”
And with little fanfare, Colin Kaepernick consistently put his time and money into multiple charities & causes. Kaep donated to Meals on Wheels, homeless shelters, recent parolees, youth job readiness programs, and helped get aid to Somalians suffering from a devastating drought/famine. Even if just from a PR standpoint, one would think that multiple teams could use Kaep’s charitable profile to distract fans away from the woefully bad football product that they are putting out on the field-but all of these teams instead gave away millions to other quarterbacks that have NEVER won anything on the pro level. The New York Jets chose Josh McCown, the 49ers moved on with Brian Hoyer, The Chicago Bears gave away an insane amount of money and draft picks for Mike Glennon & Mitch Trubisky, The Jacksonville Jaguars/Denver Broncos/Cleveland Browns stuck with what they had, and The Arizona Cardinals chose to secure a fragile spot with the QB that was benched in favor of said Colin Kaepernick. Smh.
- Brian Hoyer has never played a full season, and only played in six games last year.
- Mike Glennon was benched, in favor of Jameis Winston, and only threw 11 passes in two seasons. Still he received a three-year, $45 million deal from Chicago (with $18,500,000 guaranteed). Career-wise, Glennon only completed 59.4% of his passes and averaged an 84.6% passer rating.
- Josh McCown will be 38 when the season starts, has been previously discarded by seven other teams, and only won 18 out of the 60 games he started under center. He has only won two games in the last three years, and threw six interceptions to match the only six touchdowns he threw in route to a 0-3 record in 2016.
- Blaine Gabbert failed miserably in Jacksonville, and again in San Francisco (15 touchdowns versus 13 interceptions in 13 starts).
- Previous failures Mark Sanchez, Nick Foles, EJ Manuel, Matt Barkley, and Geno Smith were all signed into backup roles with teams that knew that they needed varying upgrades depth-wise.
Freedom Of Speech Does Not Just Apply When Those In Power Agree...
http://knowyourrightscamp.com/
http://kaepernick7.com/
http://www.sbnation.com/2016/9/11/12869726/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protest-seahawks-brandon-marshall-nfl
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2016/08/27/kaepernick-doesnt-stand-national-anthem-49ers-issue-statement/?source=rss