Given the amount of misinformation which consumed many of us during the Colin Kaepernick debacle, it’s no surprise there’s some dispute on the reporting which occurred this week suggesting Kaepernick’s settlement with the NFL was only worth 10 million dollars. I’m sure some will see that as a defeat, but for those who always said Kaepernick was in it for the money, doesn’t that argument defy logic?
Throughout much of the legal process following his release from the 49ers, it was widely believed -- and it may not have been wrong -- that Kaepernick was only looking to cash a check.
Whether that was because he truly believed he was wronged by the league or a number of owners, front office types or coaches, or perhaps it was a chance to repair the financial harm he’d caused himself by his own actions is an argument that rational people can debate on their own merits.
But the notion that this settlement of a “meager” 10 million doesn’t quite pass the smell test.
If Kaepernick was the greed pig that many out there wanted him to be portrayed, there’s no way he settles for 10 million. Instead, he gets dragged through the mud, again… he gets belittled for his actions and beliefs, again…. And he’s reviled for his actions that not only called into question the man’s patriotism but his rights as a citizen, again.
No way he’s settling for 10 million.
On the other hand, maybe he did settle for 10 million, but that actually flies in the face of the so-called conventional logic that Kaepernick’s detractors so desperately want you to believe.
He’s gutless, un-American and was only in it for the money.
If that last point were truly the case, and based on the idea that the league was willing to settle with him, then 10 million was a fraction of what he could have settled for had he chosen to drag this thing into the federal court system.
Frankly, I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business and I’m sure the NFL is more than happy to close this chapter and move merrily along.
But we all know that’s not going to happen. And that’s really the point here. No one gets to define Kaepernick’s actions until we hear from him, on his own, under his own terms, by his own choice.
Until then, the misinformation, the smear tactics and, yes, his own outlets for damage control, will spin the narrative. And we’ll argue about it for years.
That’s the legacy someone with a mission leaves behind. You don’t have to approve of it, agree with it, or stand up for it in any way.
Kaepernick didn’t need you standing for him, and he’s not likely to be affected in any way by you standing against him.
The money may have been the issue. And whether it’s 10 dollars, 10 million dollars, somewhere in the middle or somewhere over the top, he got one over on the NFL. Good for him!
More on this topic can be found right here on the Morning Monologue. Listen to the audio right here!