The NFL and NFLPA have engaged in preliminary settlement discussions in Colin Kaepernick‘s collusion grievance. They’ve gone nowhere, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports, adding a hearing is likely to occur early in 2019.
Now, the league and the union have progressed on discussions based around how the hearing will unfold. It’s not expected to begin any later than February.
A hearing is tentatively expected to occur in at a Philadelphia hotel, per La Canfora, with plenty of NFL personnel set to be required to testify. The hearing, which stands to be overseen by arbitrator Stephen Burbank, is expected to last at least two weeks.
Kaepernick’s team plans to depose NFL owners, GMs and coaches — several of whom have already been questioned during this lengthy process. Roger Goodell and other prominent league executives will be deposed as well. JLC adds the recorded depositions of Paul Allen and Bob McNair, owners who died this year, could be admitted.
The 31-year-old quarterback has not played since Week 17 of the 2016 season. Kaepernick remains interested in resuming his career, one put on hold because of his racial inequality protests during national anthems, and La Canfora reports his agents have reached out to teams weekly about booking a workout. They’ve done this since the start of the 2017 season. None have granted such an opportunity. Kaepernick continues to work out daily in hopes of another chance, though as the months pass and lesser-acclaimed quarterbacks continue to be signed, odds diminish of a return to the NFL.
The Seahawks hosted Kaepernick on a 2017 visit but cancelled a 2018 summit with the passer. Kaepernick has not received another tryout opportunity.
this is the most inaccurate moronic story I’ve ever read. you should be fired immediately from any further posting. you’re a complete sham
Shut up, this is a literal reporting of facts
Other than the whole facts part. There is a whole lot left out of this article that should be in it if it was an actual literal report of facts.
He’s had like 5 workouts and been offered many contracts he turned down. this is our propaganda
And declined his player option. But thats not a story the Kap lovers will tell you
Bingo!
Thank you gentlemen
…if Alec Baldwin were to be available, and he had the ‘same skill set’ as the above ….Would any NFL team want to deal with him ?
I think that also would be a polite “no thank you.”
2015 kap restructured his contract, he took less money to opt out. finding gainful employment was the risk he gambled on and ultimately lost.
Exactly, he should his agent for bad advice and guidance not the league.
Thank you
Kap wants to work. He’s certainly better than the bottom half of quarterbacks in the league. Why is he unemployed?
Collusion. BLM.
Suck it up honkeys and stop your racist cops from shooting fleeing unarmed black men. Then the NFL players (mostly black men) can stop protesting.
Word. These dopes don’t tell you how team owners like McNair colluded to keep Kap from even getting a work out. When Watson went down, the Texans got a stiff and tanked.
Then why does Eric Reid have a job. Why do many other players who kneeled have jobs. How is it collusion if teams offered him contracts (this was proven). Take off your tin foil hat
Eric Reid was offered work very late and on poor conditions. Eric Reid was partly offered work to defuse the Kaepernick suit. Reid’s late offer is more evidence of collusion, not less.
Wow, your level of delusion is impressive. Kaepernick is not a good quarterback, he never has been.he should of been benched when Smith recovered from his injury. Wannabe Michael Vick whom defenses figured out long before he ever played a full season. Kaepernick is an extremely athletic person with little to know sense/brain power. He threw 90mph fastballs to receivers 10 yards away and wide open. His legs hid his glaring deficiencies. Every off season the story was the same, kaep needs to spend more time in the film room, less time in the weight room. He never did. He worked with retired guys like Kurt Warner, only to regress even further. The only nitwits who think this is about race are the insanely racist anti-white “left”, who refuse to recognize reality and instead want to pretend wealthy white people are the cause of all other people’s problems. Don’t even get me started on the news media’s use of “blackface” to make him appear less white. Or his decision to grow an afro, only after he started “protesting”. Or how he was raised by well off white people who adopted him and gave him everything, put him through school and who are ultimately responsible for his making it to the NFL in the first place, even if he had zero business on a pro team.
Hmmmm…….hate much?
Hate? Hardly. I gave a pointed response from a lifetime 49ers fan whose old enough to remember what a real quarterback looks like. Montana and young make kaepernick look like a peewee drop out. Nice programmed response though.
Pointed??? LOL
Too big a word for You? Don’t worry, I’ll wait while you try and figure out what it means. Sad, typical small minded response of the left “lol @ a word you used while I ignore the context because the context destroys my entire reality…”
“Remember what a real quarterback looks like” White?
No he said Joe Montana. A guy who believe it or not ks a better player than Kap. Those exist. Kap is a mediocer passer and last time i checked thats pretty important for a QB.
Dodgethis, my comment wasn’t directed to you, it was for Alec Kinnear.
Really .. name calling lol , why do you turn down multiple NFL contracts. For the record , they are doing and have done a full investigation and you won’t believe this but there are people investigating from both races. I think Kap realized how stiff the competition really is in the NFL and decided to make millions another way, through controversy of an unfortunate issue in our society. I don’t deny there are issues of collusion in the NFLfor a multitude of reasons. I don’t believe that this is one of them. In the grand scheme of things, he is also bad for business. If we like it or not, there are a lot of people both for and against his antics. Personal, I don’t care enough. If his talent level was above average you could overlook his “other stuff” but it never was, isn’t now and never will be.
Alec Kinnear,
Honkeys? Why don’t you go climb a tree and eat a banana!
It’s not about colour. It’s about out of control police and very much about free speech.
Free speech? I think you should find out what that really means before spouting more nonsense!
It’s not what started this all, it’s just became an excuse when the cause got behind him. If it was his cause he would’ve spent time fighting it prior to losing his starting role and he could fight it during the off-season. He pouted over losing his job, he didn’t get in front of anything, they got behind him.
What out of control police?
I’m afraid to go into cities, not police stations.
Are you black? Might be different
Doesn’t using a racial epithet make you a racist? Now where are those online censors to ban you????
You call others racist with your obviously racist remarks. You, like Kaepernick, use race as an argument and call out others when they present facts on ability and performance. People like you are the reason no discussion to solve issues occur. Stop using your crutch.
Agree with you fully. I’m so sick of the “race card” being used constantly when people don’t agree with facts instead of having a discussion.
I am not willing to have a conversation about racism until the term is used correctly. All people, no matter of race, color, creed, etc. can be racist. Racism does not include POWER or an institution like some people are trying to claim. They want to redefine a term so that they can make racist comments while not being called out for it. Nonsense. The term the OP uses is just as offensive as the “n” word is.
Well said AL
Fleeing from crimes
He doesn’t want to work. He wants to work for a certain amount of money that nobody wants to pay him. He had an offer from the Ravens. He thumbed his nose at it and then his girl friend shot her mouth off.
Yawn. Go away. You got beat out by Blaine Gabbert and then opted out of your deal. You overplayed your hand, and nobody wanted the distraction for a mediocre-to-poor QB…especially now after a few seasons away
Spoiler alert Kaepernick will lose this lawsuit and look like an even bigger fool
Here is the problem… if there are a couple emails between owners talking about how Kaepernick shouldn’t have an NFL job or shouldn’t be signed, even for publicity reasons, even if it was before the owners knew they shouldn’t do that, then Kap will win the lawsuit, because that would legally be collusion. If, say, Jerry Jones sent an email or a text to another owner just in a moment of frustration saying we shouldn’t let this guy back in, that is probably enough, I’d say certainly if there was another email. That’s all it takes. Doesn’t have to be racist, just has to suggest they or someone else shouldn’t hire him, or wouldn’t be good for the NFL if they did. That’s it… that’s all Kap needs. And if collusion is found, as I understand it, it terminates the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement immediately for cause. No other wrong has to be shown. And Kap will have access to it, because of electronic discovery.
They’ve had the emails for a while. Nothing has been found to suggest collusion. If there was some owners would be in a PR nightmare.
Well, they haven’t released them if they have. They could be attorneys eyes only, the could be under seal, they could (probably do) have a protective order. Also, if this was released ahead of time, Kap would lose his personal leverage in the suit. You depose and talk settlement first, the threat of release is more powerful than the release itself. Not releasing it immediately doesn’t hurt his case in away.
Not true. Collusion must show action or steps were taken. None where. Simply discussing with your peers the merits of an employee, is not in any way shape or form collusion.
First off, these are separate organizations, and obstruction of employment is illegal anyway, but collusion would have to consist of the suggestion that another owner should not hire him, or that he should not get a job. The line where you suggest the action is the action. Because they are in control of the hiring process, that’s enough. That statement between separate team owners is enough.
1 owner saying “we should not let this guy back in the league” does not mean collusion. If multiple owners said that then there’s a different story. I highly doubt that’s the case though
Yeah, this is exactly what I said above… it takes 2, maybe 3 or 4, but not 1. We’ll see, if Jerry Jones will talk to the White House about it, and find it influential, you never know what he’ll say amongst peers that he trusts that have similar beliefs. And how many of them would engage. Also, you have to remember, this was a big issue for the league. Opinions among the owners had to be shared at some point, and while some don’t care about the protest, many were adamantly against it. I’d wouldn’t be shocked if a few didn’t hold back their views.
This is a very one sided article.
Kap is an ego maniac . Thinks he is better than he is. He’s basically Colt McCoy with abs.
Yeah Colt McCoy has a job though
Who cares? Can we talk about guys that actually play football? Nobody feels bad for Kap and his racist girlfriend. I’m sure they were paid nicely by Nike.
Every kaep article should be asterisked with “as dictated by racist BLM handler…”
This article is full of inaccuracies.
1) Kaep was under contract for $16 or $17million and he decided to opt out because he knew he would be the backup to Blaine Gabbert….BlAIN GABBERT people.
2) I know for sure he had at least one workout with the Seattle Seahawks. They passed on him. He absolutely had a workout with the Baltimore Ravens and they even offered him a contract. He spurned the contract offer and after which his girlfriend called Bisciotti (owner of Ravens) a racist slave owner and Ray Lewis an Uncle Tom.
People don’t want to accept the facts. Teams are interested him as a back up for the league minimum and seeing if he can be a “make good” type guy. Clearly he’s not interested in that. He could resume his career in the CFL, but apparently he doesn’t care enough about football to do that.
The remarks by the girlfriend about Biscotti were really stupid. The Ravens would have hired Kap under good conditions as a candidate for starter. John Harbaugh went on to draft Lamar Jackson and hire RGIII so he clearly had mobile quarterbacks in mind for his system. Based on his hiring, Harbaugh has no issues with giving a black quarterback the starting assignment. Baltimore was a perfect landing spot for Kap.
The issue is that no one else offered Kap a chance, even after he backtracked the girlfriend’s comments and committed to conducting himself less politically.
Talk of going to the CFL is just silly. Quarterbacks/players in the CFL make $50K USD or $100K USD per annum. The CFL is not an alternative to the NFL. The CFL is for undersized skill performers with heart or players too slow for the NFL. Kap clearly is an NFL level quarterback.
So basically the CFL is made for….Kap! If he really wanted to play football , he would go North or take a backup job in the NFL to reset his career.
The NFL didn’t think that Kap is an NFL level QB and if he really does want to work he would have taken one of the NFL contracts offered to him or he would be playing in the CFL. To me that shows he really doesn’t want to play at all.
And even Johnny Football decided to take his talents north just to prove his desire to continue a career.
Girl don’t go away mad. Girl, just go away.
I think Condoleeza Rice provides better click bait.
Teams have the right not to sign him if the don’t want to, it’s their money and if they deem him a locker room distraction or just not good enough they don’t have to sign him.
Correct, as long as they don’t collude.
Just because they all came to the same decision not to sign him doesn’t mean they all agreed they wouldn’t sign him. Therefore not collusion
Sure, this is absolutely true, if that’s the case. However, Kap will have access to all relevant communications between owners. It doesn’t take all of them to collude, how many is the Court’s interpretation, but likely only a couple. The key is any written communication… if there is any, the owners have a catastrophic problem.
Collusion is already apparent by de facto evidence. Quarterbacks much worse than Kaepernick are getting hired, while Kaepernick is not even getting a work out call. The NFL would be in a much better situation if teams had been calling in Kaepernick for these replacement workouts (most recent was in Maryland when Redskins quarterback Alex Smith went down) and Kaepernick showed up out of shape or didn’t show up at all. Sorry guys, Kaepernick will win this one. I expect the NFL is already trying to get a muzzled non-disclosure settlement out of Kap and he’s not bending on principle.
Good on him and bad on you.
While I agree that there is collusion personally, in terms of the legal end of it, Kap isn’t a star, and so talent level in his case versus other backups, is subjective, and a court generally won’t substitute its judgement for the employer’s judgement in a lawsuit. Also, each team believing on its own that Kap’s protests will cost them viewers and therefore money, despite my personal guess, is a very real possibility as well, albeit less likely. The burden of proof falls on the plaintiff in this case, so he will need more than just the absence of employment to win his case. He’ll need to show actual communication between the owners suggesting they not employ him. My guess is, given some of the outspoken owners in the league, that there was probably some of this communication among a few team owners who tend to react before they think, or before they were given proper legal advice, but we don’t know this for sure. It’s very possible that owners were advised by their lawyers as to how to deal with this issue before it they could say anything dumb, or had been on prior issues, as a good lawyer would do. Also, from someone who does litigation for a living, the vast majority of good lawyers, which you generally have to be to be advising a pro sports team, must have had conversations with the owners that any written communications are discoverable, and therefore not to put sensitive communications in writing. While Kap may be the first situation of this type, owners certainly aware that they must be cognizant as to what since the days of Donald Sterling.
I agree there is probably evidence of collusion in the discovery somewhere. But Kap’s legal team will have to find it to have a strong case.
That’s simply not true . He’s gotten calls, he just doesn’t want to play on a basic contract! He wants to be paid as a decent starter
I’m not sure if your reply was directed to me or someone else, but if it was to me, it doesn’t matter if he has job offers, it just matters if any owners colluded, at least for the purposes of his lawsuit. His claim doesn’t rest on whether he can get an NFL job or a contract he likes, it solely rests on whether any owners colluded. And it doesn’t take a lot or al of the owners, likely just a few would suffice for a court.
How is it collusion if he’s been offered a job as a backup ?
Because it’s not about a job. Collusion is multiple owners working together to influence the market negatively for a player or players. It’s not the league as a whole that’s subject to this CBA provision, it’s the owners individually. Collusion is that act of the owners working together to negatively affect the player’s market. This is not an employment discrimination suit. It’s not a “I can’t get hired” suit. It’s the act of collusion itself.
Therefore, if he got a job as the highest paid QB in the league, there still could be collusion between other owners. He might have trouble proving damages in such a case, but the cause of action for collusion would still be actionable.
His whole case is supported on the premise that he hasn’t been offered a job as a QB in the NFL! How is that not about getting a job? Really ?
No, it’s based on the collusion to not offer him a job. It’s the verb colluding, the collusion itself, that the grievance depends on, not the noun job, whether or not he got or can get a job.
Only the damages are about the result, the CBA forbids the ACT of collusion.
The difference that I think you’re having trouble with is that the attempt is enough for the lawsuit to be successful, provided there are multiple parties (necessary for the definition of collusion), no matter the result. Like attempted murder, or conspiracy to commit murder. The murder doesn’t actually have to happen for these charges to be valid. The actor/s just trying is enough.
The difference that you are having trouble with is that there wasn’t any collusion if he had a job in the NFL
and he got out of his contract because he wasn’t the starter any longer . That’s on HIM! Not the owners.
Plus he had other offers as a backup . That is no way shape or form collusion or the act of
Colluding ! But maybe YOU are in the act of being deluded .
You seem to keep coming back to job offers like it’s relevant. It’s just about whether the owners attempt to collide.
I think you seem to believe what collusion is is a matter of opinion, or whether Kap is wrong makes a difference. Collusion has both a legal definition and a definition in the CBA. Under both, the situation I’m talking about IS collusion. I litigate contracts and intellectual property for a living. It’s not a matter of opinion. If you think it shouldn’t be, you can argue that shouldn’t be the rule. You can’t argue that it isn’t the rule though. Because it is collusion by definition, whether either of us agree with it or not.
There is no collusion ! PERIOD! Agree to disagree! I guess we’ll wait for the crooked -ass lawyers to get as much money as they can
and then decide that as well
I’m a supporter of Kaepernick, but what owner in their right mind would hire someone who is suing them!
…if Gary Busey were to be available, and he had the ‘same skill set’ as the above ….Would any NFL team want to deal with him ?
I think that also would be a polite “no thank you.”
Kaepernick protests racial inequality, yet signs a large marketing deal with Nike worth millions. What about the overseas sweat shops making Nike and Kaepernick money while earning pennies per hour? That’s inequality!!
Can one put a picture of anyone next to the word “hypocritical” in any or all dictionaries ?
2 words Johnny Manziel. 2 more, Tim Tebow. 2 more, Vince Young. All were just as good as Kaep and made it about the same amount of years and some way less. Because they were either a pain in the ass or immature or just not that good. I could give u 100 QBs that had really good 1-3 year runs and never played again once they were figured out by other coaches. Kaep isn’t that good. If he were Russell Wilson and was protesting he’d still b in the league.
i see the point you’re trying to make, but those 3 are not as good as Kaep.
They all had better college careers than Kap did
But none of them could cut it as starters in the NFL!
The biggest problem with Kaep is his thumb. Thumbing DOWN viable contract offers. He is the one who opted out of his contract in March 2017. If he hadn’t, he probably will still have a job….