Despite likely being set to begin a season without a starting quarterback job for the first time since 2012, Colin Kaepernick has dominated the NFL news cycle this week. The nature of his return to the spotlight angered many front office executives.
The majority of the league’s decision-making personnel do not support the 49ers quarterback’s decision to sit for the national anthem in pro
test, according to Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report.
A sampling of seven team executives revealed to Freeman they estimate 90-95% of NFL front offices shared their sentiments, which are not aligned with Kaepernick’s racially themed choice to sit during the anthem. Each of the surveyed septet believes the 49ers will release Kaepernick and he won’t play in the NFL again.
“I don’t want him anywhere near my team,” one front office executive told Freeman. “He’s a traitor.”
A GM also told Freeman he’d never seen a player hated by front office members as much as Kaepernick is now. Another executive told the writer he’d consider resigning from his post if his team’s owner wanted to sign the now-polarizing 28-year-old quarterback.
Sources close to Kaepernick expect the 49ers to release him, per Freeman. The 49ers, though, won’t be doing so because they don’t feel he can be effective anymore, as previously reported, but the anonymous executives believe San Francisco will instead cut the quarterback because of public pressure surrounding Kaepernick’s lightning-rod status. So, two key factors appear to be working against the dual-threat player.
It would be interesting if Kaepernick wants to continue playing but can’t when considering his standout past and the fact players with checkered legal pasts have been allowed to continue their careers. Freeman cites the Vikings moving on from longtime punter Chris Kluwe in 2013 around the same time he voiced his support for gay rights as a precedent for what could soon happen.
The NFL does not require players to stand for the anthem, but the league encourages the practice. The 49ers and Chip Kelly voiced support for Kaepernick’s rights last week when the controversy spawned. Kelly said the coaching staff remained in the process of deciding between he and Blaine Gabbert for the Week 1 starting role and that his controversial protest will not affect his standing on the team.
Kaepernick is due to make $11.9MM via fully guaranteed base salary this season. He signed the team-friendly, pay-as-you-go-structured deal in 2014 after he’d come off two strong seasons that ended with the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII and then in the 2013 NFC championship game. Kaepernick, though, has regressed from that high level that previously induced the Niners to trade Alex Smith to the Chiefs.
San Francisco benched Kaepernick last season before placing him on IR. During an offseason when he underwent three surgeries and lost weight as a result of being unable to train sufficiently, the 49ers and Broncos engaged in trade talks for the mercurial passer who’s led the 49ers to four playoff wins.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
This is crazy. It’s an unpatriotic thing to do, but how do people hate this guy worse for exercising his first amendment rights than they do the dirtbags that commit actual crimes and hurt others?
Exactly!
Just because they hate him doesn’t mean they don’t hate criminals more. There’s lots of hate in the world.
True, but when asked about signing Ray Rice or Greg Hardy they’ll say stuff like baggage and backlash and not worth it, but I’ve never once seen an exec (anonymously or not) say something along the lines of “traitor” or “I’d consider quitting first”. Maybe they were just less vocal about their true feelings in those cases though.
Also true on the lots of hate part. We gotta lighten up as a species :/
FO personnel obviously need to go take a history class irt peaceful protest in the U.S. And look in the mirror when they consider their role in NFL’s handling of head injuries among former players. How can they sleep at night? Uneducated, uninformed, ignorant.
I like to see someone call their bluff and see if they’d resign as a GM instead of signing Kaep. Let’s see if they’d risk their livelihood as much as Kaep appears to be doing.
While Kaepernick has the right to express his opinion, he doesn’t have a right to employment because of it. If he’s a distraction and a cancer in the locker room, the team has the right to cut him. It’s an honor to play in the NFL, and there are plenty of players waiting in line that want to be a team player.
My opinion, cut him.
He has his right to disrespect America and the nfl has the right to not employ him for his disrespect of are country!
He forgot how many lives it cost to be able to sit down during the national anthem. He should try that in China or N. Korea. He’s just posturing in the national limelight.. he’s through!!
This ingrate should be ashamed. Now wearing socks with pigs and police hats? Cut his ignorant ass. If he was in trouble he would be looking for police to bail his ass out. He is a hypocrite and doesn’t deserve anything but a butt beating and scorn. Bless our country
If he’s in trouble he’s either looking to bodyguards or his own weapon, not cops. Cops arrive after the fact.
A white family adopted a mixed-race son and loved him as much as any of their bio-kids, and he goes off to the NFL and makes millions. What a racist country we live in.
At least he lives in a country where other people willingly wear body armor to work every day and night, risking everything so he can go off to the NFL, make millions, then stab them in the back.
The part that is missing here is that Kap has never addressed the fact that police have been killed at the protests. By not specifically addressing that part of the issue, Kap by his silence is endorsing violence against police. Add the pig socks, which was in poor taste, and no wonder the GMs in the article want nothing to do with him. He addressed his respect for the military but not law enforcement, again the silence speaking volumes. Go away Kap.