Deja Vu: Colin Kaepernick’s Meeting With Seattle Seahawks Hits Roadblock
It has been reported that a meeting between the Seattle Seahawks and free-agent Colin Kaepernick has been postponed, making it the second time in as many years that the two almost hooked up for a deal.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, talks officially broke down when Seattle learned that Kaepernick would still be kneeling for the national anthem next season.
To make matters muddier, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network echoed Schefter but with one small twist.
“It was not because he said he declined to stop kneeling, tho (sic). The team asked for his plan moving forward on how to handle everything and there was not a firm plan,” Rapoport said.
Not a firm plan? What does that even mean? There are too many ways to read this.
- His stance on what he was kneeling for isn’t as strong as it used to be after a year of no football
- He’s not sure how his collusion suit against the NFL is going and needs more time to plan
- He doesn’t know which knee he wants to kneel on
Vague reporting as always but we don’t really know anything until we hear from Kaepernick himself. Luckily for him, if he even cares about getting on the field, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times said he could be considered again “down the road”.
Below is a brief summary of the Kaepernick situation and how exactly we got here:
During the 2016 NFL preseason, Kaepernick started a peaceful protest of the American flag during the national anthem, stating that he did not want to “stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” After weeks of continued protests by a growing number of players, and even owners, a backlash started to ensue as more and more fans protested themselves. Except, they were protesting the protests. A good portion of fans did not want to spend their money and free time watching football players protest, or as some would say, “disgrace” the flag by kneeling. Fans across the country vowed to stop buying tickets or even stop watching NFL football altogether. As always, President Trump tweeted his opinion on the matter too. The NFL got a first-hand lesson in why politics and business do not make a good combo and after awhile, some owners — including Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys — started to reconsider letting their players kneel during the anthem.
The kneeling eventually dwindled to the point that it wasn’t really discussed anymore and the focus shifted from the discussion of Kaepernick’s protests to whether or not he was being blackballed by the league. The talks are becoming prevalent again as teams still seem to be wary of whether they want to give him a chance. Is it the protest issue or could it possibly be that teams just don’t believe he has the ability to succeed in the NFL?Is it both? Is it neither? We don’t really know and we may never know. One thing is guaranteed though, lots of time this season will be spent trying to figure it out, and this is not the last time you will hear about Colin Kaepernick.