P.T. Barnum would have loved Colin Kaepernick. The Greatest Showman valued anyone who could attract attention to his circus, and Kaepernick would have fit the bill.
That much was revealed on 16 November 2019 when Kaepernick chose to not participate in a private work-out session arranged by the NFL.
Here is ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith’s description of what happened:
This man [Kaepernick] wanted a chance, 25 teams show up in Georgia at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility, they stayed at our facility, NFL personnel, equipment, video, everything.
And what does Colin Kaepernick do? Not Tuesday, not Wednesday, not Thursday, not Friday, Saturday — three hours before the workout — because of some issue with a liability waiver — Colin Kaepernick wants to change the venue, Colin Kaepernick wants his own receivers, Colin Kaepernick wants to video things himself, Colin Kaepernick… wants the media available.
You see? He don’t wanna play. He wants to be a martyr. But, guess what? It ain’t working this time.
All of us believe Colin Kaepernick would have sold out. And if he had sold out, I believe he would have had a job in two weeks. But it didn’t happen because he didn’t show. He wanted to show up to a high school in Georgia, not an NFL facility, a high school. And you took it live. Like, the average Joe out there gets to decide if he’s on the NFL roster. You don’t want to work, you just want to make noise and control the narrative.
In response to Smith’s commentary, Carolina Panthers defensive back Eric Reid tweeted, “Damn straight Colin wants to control the narrative!”
Smith pulls no punches in his Twitter rebuttal to Reid:
Smith is correct about Kaepernick’s goal on 16 November 2019. Kaepernick’s complaint against the NFL was that the latter wouldn’t allow a private work-out session to be turned into a circus. So, Kaepernick changed where he was to have his work-out, giving the NFL and representatives of 25 NFL teams only a 30-minute notice of the change. The result was the circus that Kaepernick wanted.
From the NFL Statement On Kaepernick Workout:
“Last night, when Nike, with Colin’s approval, requested to shoot an ad featuring Colin and mentioning all the NFL teams present at the workout, we agreed to the request.”
Yep, Kaepernick’s Nike contract is involved in this particular spat.
On 03 September 2018, Yahoo’s senior NFL reporter Charles Robinson tweeted this:
Details on Kaepernick and #Nike:
– It’s wide endorsement. He’s going to have his own branded line. Shoes, shirts, jerseys, etc. There will be Kaepernick apparel.
– Contract is a “star” deal on par with a top end #NFL player. Millions per year. Star deals also include royalties.
With his Nike contract in play, it is no wonder that Kaepernick wanted to be the ring master of a media circus.
USA Today sports columnist Mike Jones gives his response to that circus:
Many people within the league — from NFL officials to team talent evaluators and current players — speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told USA TODAY Sports they believe Kaepernick and his camp had no real intention of showing up at the Falcons’ facility for the 3 p.m. workout. They likely didn’t just decide at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday that they were going to hold the public workout approximately 60 miles away from the Falcons’ facility.
Kaepernick’s power move further fueled the school of thought that he’s more concerned with theatrics than football.
If Kaepernick truly wanted to showcase his skills to as many talent evaluators as possible, then his actions definitely didn’t indicate so. He inconvenienced the 20-plus NFL scouts who had already set up at Falcons’ headquarters and suddenly had to figure out how or if they should make the hour-plus-long trip to Charles Drew High School by 4 p.m. A handful did go there, but the majority bagged their plans. Hue Jackson, whom the NFL had appointed to run the original workout, left the Falcons’ facility and flew back home.
Multiple people within the league told USA TODAY Sports that, in their opinion, Kaepernick cared more about showcasing his skills to his supporters than he did to potential employers. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic. And these weren’t people with a grudge against Kaepernick. This was coming from men on different levels and branches of the league who wanted to see him back in the NFL.
Once the workout finally did take place, Kaepernick showed us what we knew all along: He possesses NFL-caliber talent, and he’s still in shape.
But Saturday’s NFL-arranged workout wasn’t so much supposed to be about the throws as it was about affording teams an opportunity to see Kaepernick check off a bunch of important boxes. Could he carry himself with flexibility and professionalism? Could he deal with pressure and renewed scrutiny? Could he handle pointed questions and present a well-devised plan for reviving his career? Could he take care of business with minimal fanfare?
Kaepernick failed that test. Now, who knows what’s next?
I do believe Kaepernick at least in part still wants to play — if it’s on his terms. The problem: Unless we’re self-employed, very few of us get to do our jobs on our very own terms. And even self-employed men and women have a certain code that they must adhere to.
Kaepernick doesn’t seem to get that, though.
. . . But Kaepernick’s methods have long made it hard for his critics to take him seriously. More important, NFL owners have always deemed Kaepernick’s as too distracting. Saturday’s shenanigans were no different.
Essentially, Kaepernick’s circus might have just cost him a job.
Meh. Who needs the NFL when you can wear a top hat.
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Featured Image in Public Domain.
The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”