Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.
Since the announcement came on Friday that Colin Kaepernick and the NFL arrived at a settlement in the ostracized quarterback’s potentially explosive collusion grievance, legal experts and sports pundits have debated which side won.
Don’t make it over-complicated. Kaepernick won. Big time.
The NFL’s bottom-less pit of revenue affords the league to outlast anyone and any cause in a battle of billable hours. But the league called off the suits on Friday and paid Kaepernick an undisclosed sum of money to go away rather than have exposed, at the very least, evidence that may have been very embarrassing to the league and team owners.
This is the league that burned tens of millions of dollars to demonize and then defeat Tom Brady – the sport’s G.O.A.T. quarterback – for allegedly using slightly deflated footballs in a 2014 season playoff game. It wanted its pound of flesh and eventually got it in the form of a four-game suspension of Brady.
But the almighty NFL capitulated quietly to Kaepernick, even though most experts believed it unlikely that Kaepernick could prove the league refused to hire him because of his National Anthem protests.
The award amount – speculated between $20 million and $100 million – was sealed behind a confidentiality agreement, along with other details of the settlement.
What the league wanted kept secret may never be known.
By settling – and paying -- the league avoids saying it did anything wrong. It put a high price on that.
The last time it waved a white flag was when it agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in 2013 to retired players to avoid admitting it knew concussions could lead to long-term brain disease.
No sellout: Critics of Kaepernick posited that he “sold out” by taking the money without proving anything and furthering his social cause. That he never intended to resume playing and was merely trying to pick up a fast paycheck. They are wrong.
First, Kaepernick’s well-paid celebrity lawyer, Mark Geragos, said to CNN that Kaepernick “absolutely” wants to play again and predicted he would get the chance now that the stain of litigation has been removed.
Second, Kaepernick’s payout in this deal merely compensates him for projected salaries lost over the past two seasons, plus perceived damages to other earnings, such as potential endorsements.
Who wouldn’t take that deal?
Kaepernick, 31, has not played since the 16th game of the 2016 season -- his final appearance for the San Francisco 49ers.
He opted out of his contract at that point with the intent of signing elsewhere in free agency. But no legitimate offer came.
The NFL’s stated posture over this time – articulated several times by Commissioner Roger Goodell – was that teams would hire any quarterback they thought could help them win. The inference was that Kaepernick simply wasn’t a good enough quarterback to warrant a credible offer. Not even Kaepernick’s sternest critics could agree with that.
Kaepernick’s 28-30 record in five NFL seasons is roughly equal to that of Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota (28-29), who is still considered a potential “franchise quarterback.”
Since Kaepernick put himself on the market, 85 quarterbacks have changed teams (not including drafted and traded players), according to The Undefeated. Among them are, ahem, non-luminaries such as Mark Sanchez, Matt Cassel, Derek Anderson, Brandon Weeden, Robert Griffin, Blaine Gabbert, Geno Smith, Nathan Peterman, Matt Barkley, Chase Daniel, and Josh Johnson.
Clearly, Kaepernick was blackballed for his Anthem protests. The NFL settlement is tacit admission of that.
The other cause: The settlement doesn’t end Kaepernick’s greater cause, which was to protest and bring awareness to racial oppression and police brutality against primarily black men.
In my opinion, Kaepernick’s biggest mistake was in sitting for the National Anthem when he launched his protest in a 2016 exhibition game. He sat for two games before it became a big story. Sitting during the Anthem was universally seen as disrespecting the American flag and United States military.
Only after Kaepernick met with Nate Boyer, a former Green Beret and short-term Seattle Seahawks long-snapper, did Kaepernick agree to take a knee, rather than sit, during the Anthem.
Boyer told Kaepernick that kneeling during the Anthem would convey his message in a more respectful manner. Supporters of Kaepernick and his cause on every NFL team eventually joined him in taking a knee.
By then, it was too late.
The image of Kaepernick sitting for the Anthem was burned in everyone’s mind. The public outrage intensified. And after President Donald Trump ranted that player protesters – which he referred to as “sons of b**ches” -- should be fired, the NFL suffered an enormous public backlash that hurt TV ratings and cost the league advertising revenue.
The good that came of Kaepernick’s cause was the formation of a Players Coalition which furthered dialogue with NFL owners and local law enforcement leaders. Eventually, NFL owners agreed to allocate up to $100 million to social causes outlined by the Players Coalition.
The Kaepernick story is far from done.
Will he play again and show he can win again? That seems trivial to his greater cause of affecting social change.
Only one thing is undeniable. When Kaepernick took on the NFL, it was the NFL that was brought to its knees.