NEW YORK (AP) — Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL on Sunday, alleging that he remains unsigned as a result of collusion by owners following his protests during the national anthem.
Kaepernick started a national conversation about political activism by athletes last season when he decided to sit, and then kneel, during the anthem to bring attention to mistreatment of African-Americans by police. Other players have continued the protests this season, prompting an angry response from President Donald Trump, who said players should be fired for not standing during the anthem.
Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers at the end of last season and remains a free agent despite a rash of injuries and poor play at the quarterback position.
Mark Geragos, one of Kaepernick’s attorneys, said in a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday that he filed the grievance “only after pursuing every possible avenue with all NFL teams and their executives.”
“If the NFL (as well as all professional sports leagues) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful political protest — which the owners themselves made great theater imitating weeks ago — should not be punished,” Geragos said in the statement, “and athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation by the executive branch of our government. Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and harkens back to our darkest days as a nation.”
San Francisco safety Eric Reid, Kaepernick’s former teammate, has been kneeling during the anthem before games, including Sunday’s 26-24 loss at the Washington Redskins.
“I’ll have to follow up with him,” Reid said after the game. “It sure does seem like he’s being blackballed. I think all the stats prove that he’s an NFL-worthy quarterback. So that’s his choice and I support his decision. We’ll just have to see what comes of it.”
The NFL players’ union said it would support the grievance, which was filed through the arbitration system that’s part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
“Colin Kaepernick’s goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for and to return to the football playing field,” Geragos said.
I don’t watch Pro Football. Is he any good?
I mean if the owners decide that standing during the anthem is part of the job requirement, it doesn’t seem like he got much of a case(much to stand on?, ha ha). Sure that is a dumb requirement, but that’s the nature of being the boss, you can require some dumb things and the employees only way around is to quit.
If Kaepernick is allowed to conduct discovery, this could get really interesting. Were I his attorney, I’d be asking for emails and meeting minutes to start with.
I wonder how many of the owners and their lawyers know of this Supreme Court decision or have even read it? That also goes for every single one of their attorney’s!
Decision of the Court
The Court held, in a 6-to-3 decision delivered by Justice Jackson, that it was unconstitutional for public schools to compel students to salute the flag. It thus overruled its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, finding that the flag salute was “a form of utterance” and “a primitive but effective means of communicating ideas.” “Compulsory unification of opinion,” the Court wrote, was doomed to failure and was antithetical to the values set forth in the First Amendment. The Court eloquently stated: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” To underscore its decision, the Supreme Court announced it on Flag Day.
I’m betting the pay him off with a large confidential settlement if they can. There’s almost certainly evidence of collusion, and he’s got stats as good as at least some of the QBs current on rosters. But the NFL owners don’t want to take the tweetstorms that would result fromactually putting him back on contract. Especially since so much of their remaining base is trump demographic.