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NFL arranges workout for QB Colin Kaepernick


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7 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I've been consistently pro-Kaep, and don't mind him trying to get his money in exchange for going away, but it's shocking to me that each side agreed to the settlement with no consideration as to what would happen when Kaep left the room having signed.

Path of least resistance was to kick the can down the road?

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From the PFT article:

 “Most recently, the NFL has demanded that as a precondition to the workout, Mr. Kaepernick sign an unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues and rejected the standard liability waiver from physical injury proposed by Mr. Kaepernick’s representatives."

So we're going to take their word for it? Don't think so.

Edited by Joe_is_the_best
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1 minute ago, RuskieTitan said:

So it sounds like Kaep has leveraged the situation to ultimately get paid for not playing and portraying himself as some sort of martyr when the reality is he made a very sound business decision that provides both income and a greater amount of publicity than just having an NFL career - given that he was trending downhill with his on field performance.

 

That's one side of it. The other side is that the NFL tried to cheap out on their side of the agreement and didn't pay out Kaep for his future employment prospects as a QB, only his past prospects.

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1 minute ago, animaltested said:

Path of least resistance was to kick the can down the road?

That's probably the answer. The NFL was terrified of discovery, it was coming up in a few weeks, and the settlement was signed knowing this would be an issue. Why discussions don't keep going after that, I really don't know.

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Just now, ramssuperbowl99 said:

That's one side of it. The other side is that the NFL tried to cheap out on their side of the agreement and didn't pay out Kaep for his future employment prospects as a QB, only his past prospects.

But that's what I don't understand. Each team can make the determination on whether a player is worth the headache they could bring. We've seen this end other careers prematurely (Tim Tebow, potentially Antonio Brown) where teams decided it wasnt worthwhile. What makes Colin so much superior that he deserves monetary compensation for alleged blackballing, beyond his self-proclaimed activist role?

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Just now, RuskieTitan said:

But that's what I don't understand. Each team can make the determination on whether a player is worth the headache they could bring. We've seen this end other careers prematurely (Tim Tebow, potentially Antonio Brown) where teams decided it wasnt worthwhile. What makes Colin so much superior that he deserves monetary compensation for alleged blackballing, beyond his self-proclaimed activist role?

First off, not dealing with "what makes Colin so much superior", we can discuss this without taking shots. Kaepernick and his lawyers aren't arrogant for wanting to get paid. There are 2 things that make his case different:

  1. Kaep (and the NFLPA, assuming they back his grievance when it comes) are alleging the NFL teams have conspired to not hire him. Collusion is against the CBA. Tebow and Brown, to my knowledge, haven't made that claim.
  2. Kaep has already settled a lawsuit, and will likely be alleging the NFL teams are not hiring him out of retaliation for having to pay him previously.

Number 2 is a big deal. Courts don't like retaliation.

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9 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

First off, not dealing with "what makes Colin so much superior", we can discuss this without taking shots. Kaepernick and his lawyers aren't arrogant for wanting to get paid. There are 2 things that make his case different:

  1. Kaep (and the NFLPA, assuming they back his grievance when it comes) are alleging the NFL teams have conspired to not hire him. Collusion is against the CBA. Tebow and Brown, to my knowledge, haven't made that claim.
  2. Kaep has already settled a lawsuit, and will likely be alleging the NFL teams are not hiring him out of retaliation for having to pay him previously.

Number 2 is a big deal. Courts don't like retaliation.

How can he argue the 2nd point as being the reason vs lack of playing time and diminished skill from age? It just seems like he's milking the situation for all it's worth, and by all means it's America and he has the right to do so, but it just seems ridiculous. 

FWIW, I'm not taking shots, I'm trying to understand how he's able to argue this point, unless it's because he was smart enough to approach it from an activist role. Otherwise, what's to stop dozens of other fringe starters in their 20s who are looking to be out of jobs to start mirroring the same path and claiming it was their activism?

I do think it played a role, but I think teams independently made the determination of not wanting him on their roster, not that the league as a whole prevented that.

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19 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

First off, not dealing with "what makes Colin so much superior", we can discuss this without taking shots. Kaepernick and his lawyers aren't arrogant for wanting to get paid. There are 2 things that make his case different:

  1. Kaep (and the NFLPA, assuming they back his grievance when it comes) are alleging the NFL teams have conspired to not hire him. Collusion is against the CBA. Tebow and Brown, to my knowledge, haven't made that claim.
  2. Kaep has already settled a lawsuit, and will likely be alleging the NFL teams are not hiring him out of retaliation for having to pay him previously.

Number 2 is a big deal. Courts don't like retaliation.

I posted the tweet on page 12, but there’s some reporting out there about teams contacting the NFL over Kaepernick. The NFL has to be deathly afraid of this going to court if even one of those inquiries came before the workout was scheduled. A team feeling the need to contact the league office before reaching out to the player himself would be pretty hard to ignore. 

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9 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

How can he argue the 2nd point as being the reason vs lack of playing time and diminished skill from age? It just seems like he's milking the situation for all it's worth, and by all means it's America and he has the right to do so, but it just seems ridiculous. 

FWIW, I'm not taking shots, I'm trying to understand how he's able to argue this point, unless it's because he was smart enough to approach it from an activist role. Otherwise, what's to stop dozens of other fringe starters in their 20s who are looking to be out of jobs to start mirroring the same path and claiming it was their activism?

I do think it played a role, but I think teams independently made the determination of not wanting him on their roster, not that the league as a whole prevented that.

This fake workout, with 25 teams showing up to watch him sign a waiver with only 8 willing to drive an hour to actually watch him workout is evidence of teams not being forthright in what their goal with the workout was. That's going to get brought up. Every week, there are dozens of guys who get individual team workouts. What the NFL did for Kaep was unprecedented, so if they are truly just evaluating him like anyone else, why is the process for Kaep so much different?

 

Regarding the bold question, Kaep is the exception to the rule. Most fringe players who try to become a brand are quickly never heard from again - Michael Sam is a good example of this. He went on Oprah, and then it's been a whole lot of nothing. Kaep inspiring a national conversation here is not standard at all, and that should be the least of the NFL's worries. That said, if they want to get out in front of that, they could contact the NFLPA and either amend the current CBA (conceding something in return), or put it on the table in the next CBA negotiation.

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4 minutes ago, winitall said:

I posted the tweet on page 12, but there’s some reporting out there about teams contacting the NFL over Kaepernick. The NFL has to be deathly afraid of this going to court if even one of those inquiries came before the workout was scheduled. A team feeling the need to contact the league office before reaching out to the player himself would be pretty hard to ignore. 

Yeah so there's some great evidence of either collusion through the league, or teams being fearful of league retaliation given the settlement. 

The NFL should just nut up and pay the man his money so he can move on.

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14 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Yeah so there's some great evidence of either collusion through the league, or teams being fearful of league retaliation given the settlement. 

The NFL should just nut up and pay the man his money so he can move on.

I agree with this.  The only thing I would say is more important is that they should just pay him so THEY can move on.  If they keep dragging it out it is just going to make them look bad and create more hard feelings among their fans.  Pay the guy, let him walk away and move on to much bigger and better things.

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19 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Yeah so there's some great evidence of either collusion through the league, or teams being fearful of league retaliation given the settlement. 

The NFL should just nut up and pay the man his money so he can move on.

They should, but this is the same organization that tried to nickel and dime players health care, after ranking in hundreds of millions in revenue. I assume these decisions are at the mercy of the owners, and I guarantee there a quite a few cheapskates in there who fight every dollar tooth and nail.

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6 minutes ago, animaltested said:

They should, but this is the same organization that tried to nickel and dime players health care, after ranking in hundreds of millions in revenue. I assume these decisions are at the mercy of the owners, and I guarantee there a quite a few cheapskates in there who fight every dollar tooth and nail.

100%. That's why we're going to hear about this for the next however many months or years, then there will be another settlement right before discovery again and we'll either move on or it'll be groundhog day.

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38 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Yeah so there's some great evidence of either collusion through the league, or teams being fearful of league retaliation given the settlement. 

The NFL should just nut up and pay the man his money so he can move on.

No, there isn't. Speculation isn't evidence. I may be wrong, but you seem to be under the impression that the NFL settled because they are guilty. There are many possible reasons why the NFL settled. 

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