NFL Settles With Kaepernick

[RiverDog]

I'm surprised no one has brought this up:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-colin- ... 019-02-15/

When I first heard about this out of court settlement, my initial reaction was that the NFL was afraid that they were going to lose the court case, that I was wrong in my prediction that Kaepernick would lose his case and that perhaps my friend North Hawk was correct.

But as I paid more attention, the agreement contains a confidentiality clause that prohibits either party from discussing the matter further, so it appears to me that the NFL, due to all the negative press they've received, including artists refusing to perform in the Super Bowl over this issue, the politicization of it by the POTUS, and all the other negative distractions that the league is having to deal with regarding officiating, specifically in the NFCCG, domestic violence, low ratings, etc, that the league was seeking a way to put this one behind them.

Kaepernick's lawsuit was always a long shot as the burden of proof was on him.

Thoughts?

[NorthHawk]

Kaepernick got a lot of money to keep quiet.
It shows the NFL had a bad case and there was too much proof of a unified
effort to restrict Kaep from working.
The statements made by various NFL team personnel and the signing of lesser
QB's says quite a lot, too.

[mykc14]

I think it has everything to do with the public image. I still don’t think he had a good case but whatever the NFL settled for us a drop in the bucket compared to what they can lose from negative public opinion. I also think nfl owners want to avoid any situation in which their phone records, emails, etc... are being looked at in an investigation.

[NorthHawk]

Here's a comment from an author.
I don't know much about the publication, but his PoV is possible.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/02/colin ... usion.html

[RiverDog]

Kaepernick got a lot of money to keep quiet.
It shows the NFL had a bad case and there was too much proof of a unified
effort to restrict Kaep from working.
The statements made by various NFL team personnel and the signing of lesser
QB's says quite a lot, too.

That's pure speculation and shows nothing of the sort. We do not know how much money Kapernick settled for, although we can assume it was for multiple $M's. Nor do we know what kind of evidence that may existed beyond the purely circumstantial evidence that you suggested of teams signing lesser QB's. Even if a team or teams refused to sign Kaepernick because of his politics, that's completely legal so long as they didn't do it in coordination with other teams or owners, and that's extremely difficult to prove.

No company, or individual for that matter, wants a 3rd party rifling through their private communications whether or not they have anything to hide, so what mykc has suggested as a motivation for the settlement is a definite possibility.

[NorthHawk]

BS.
A number of senior people on teams have stated they wouldn't hire him and when their and other teams
desperately needed a QB, they didn't even offer a tryout.
Using politics as a reason is still blackballing a person and as has been shown, there really isn't much
support beyond the surface for their continued actions. The clothing store in Denver that went out of
business when it stopped selling Nike is an example of people talking a good game but not delivering.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if a team needed a QB and signed CK, after they started winning
the fans would return - if any left at all. Because we (me included) are a fickle bunch.

The money. We don't know how much, but for him to sign a non disclosure agreement, and give up his claim, it has to be worth
the time and lost wages. That amounts to millions. There's no way around it. The owners paid up.
My guess is it's a majority of the annual salary he would have made, but it might have been more.
And we know the owners are a cheap bunch, so the investigation and evidence collected must have shown
that they would not come out of it on the right side and cost them even more.

[obiken]

River, I heard on CBS sports late night that it was 80 million dollars, IF he doesn't find and NFL team. With his 100 million dollar NIKE contract, he is not hurting for dough!

[c_hawkbob]

The morning of Florio was saying between Kap and Reed it was $60-80M.

In a collusion case the burden of proof is on the accuser, he thought the NFL had a very small chance of losing and was surprised they settled.

[Aseahawkfan]

I have to give it to Kaepernick for leveraging his failing NFL career into huge sums of money and an image as some kind of civil rights icon. Just more of the modern world creating fake heroes that benefit from their hollow beliefs.

[trents]

I have to give it to Kaepernick for leveraging his failing NFL career into huge sums of money and an image as some kind of civil rights icon. Just more of the modern world creating fake heroes that benefit from their hollow beliefs.

This!

I think teams not being interested in him was a combination of the baggage that came with him and not being impressed with his football abilities. If K had exhibited exceptional QB ability I promise you he would have been on some NFL team a long time ago. I doubt if there was any real collusion going on, just owners and coaches reaching the same conclusion about his abilities and his baggage. I think the NFL just wanted to get this behind them. If Kapernick wants to play football there is the CFL and AAF. My guess is he has lost his interest in the game and now has the bankroll in place to sit on the beach the rest of his life.

[RiverDog]

Here's a good summation of 3 reasons why the league settled with Kaepernick that encompass all the possible reasons we have discussed in this thread:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/3- ... spartanntp

Reason 1 was that before depositions were given, the league was very confident that they had a solid case, but once those depositions were made, their legal team might have told them that they may have a legal problem with one or more of them.

Reason 2 was the PR issue that has been discussed extensively between us.

Reason 3 was that had the league lost, Kaepernick could have appealed the decision and filed it in federal court, creating a public records situation where they might have disclosed the depositions to the public, and as we discussed, even if they were innocent of collusion, the thought of making public conversations between 32 different entities might have had a chilling effect on the owners.

IMO that's a very good summation and likely captures all the possible reasons why the league settled.

[RiverDog]

I have to give it to Kaepernick for leveraging his failing NFL career into huge sums of money and an image as some kind of civil rights icon. Just more of the modern world creating fake heroes that benefit from their hollow beliefs.

Agreed. The man is half white and was raised by white adaptive parents, so it seems unlikely that he experienced the types of challenges that more genuine blacks and minorities have been forced to endure. I certainly haven't heard him give any examples of personal challenges he had to deal with as it relates to his race. That's not to say that his actions weren't for a 'good' or 'just' cause.

[c_hawkbob]

I think reason 3 was it (or nearly all of it): just avoiding the discovery process was more than enough to justify a measly $80M to avoid. Putting a gag on anything additional coming out just sweetened the deal.

[RiverDog]

I think reason 3 was it (or nearly all of it): just avoiding the discovery process was more than enough to justify a measly $80M to avoid. Putting a gag on anything additional coming out just sweetened the deal.

Agreed. You don't have to be guilty of anything in order not to want your private conversations made public, especially in today's world where much of the public/media considers you guilty until proven innocent.

[burrrton]

A number of senior people on teams have stated they wouldn't hire him and when their and other teams
desperately needed a QB, they didn't even offer a tryout.

*sigh*

Mediocre talent + significant baggage = no job. Film at 11.

[burrrton]

I have to give it to Kaepernick for leveraging his failing NFL career into huge sums of money and an image as some kind of civil rights icon. Just more of the modern world creating fake heroes that benefit from their hollow beliefs.

++

[burrrton]

That's not to say that his actions weren't for a 'good' or 'just' cause.

Whatever you think of his "cause", the ire was misplaced.

ADB's efforts are a perfect example of how you go about something if you actually intend for something positive to come about rather than just venting like a child.

[mykc14]

BS.
A number of senior people on teams have stated they wouldn't hire him and when their and other teams
desperately needed a QB, they didn't even offer a tryout.
Using politics as a reason is still blackballing a person and as has been shown, there really isn't much
support beyond the surface for their continued actions. .

The issue isn’t whether or not teams ‘blackballed’ Kaep, they have the right to sign or not sign any player for just about any reason. The issue is whether or not they all decided together to not sign him which would be incredibly hard for Kaep to prove and IMO really unlikely to have happened. Teams wanted to stay away from him due to his political stances but that doesn’t mean they got together and decided to do this as a unit.

[trents]

So much for Kapernick. We've beaten that horse for all it's worth. But what about Eric Reid? How does he figure into this settlement and what was his motive? Was he just piggybacking on Kapernick's leverage? Reid is still an active player on an NFL team.

Another angle here is the precedent this sets for any malcontent player who can come up with some "victim" cause to wrench $$ from the NFL.

[idhawkman]

I think reason 3 was it (or nearly all of it): just avoiding the discovery process was more than enough to justify a measly $80M to avoid. Putting a gag on anything additional coming out just sweetened the deal.

Agreed. You don't have to be guilty of anything in order not to want your private conversations made public, especially in today's world where much of the public/media considers you guilty until proven innocent.

Hmmm..... Sounds like a good strategy even if it isn't true. Sounds vaguely familiar over the last 2 years... I'll stop there before it requires this to go to the off-topic page...

[Hawktawk]

So much for Kapernick. We've beaten that horse for all it's worth. But what about Eric Reid? How does he figure into this settlement and what was his motive? Was he just piggybacking on Kapernick's leverage? Reid is still an active player on an NFL team.

Another angle here is the precedent this sets for any malcontent player who can come up with some "victim" cause to wrench $$ from the NFL.

This right here^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Reid was signed by the Panthers and just inked a three year extension. How was he harmed? Didn't his hiring kind of disprove the whole collusion thing??
As for Kaep did his stupid retarded political grandstanding hurt his chances to be on a team? Hell yes because he was an idiotic me first lead from behind aloof guy who according to many 9ers teammates wasn't even sure if he wanted to play. Once teams figured out his running game he became a stiff unfluid in the pocket guy who couldn't read the field and got a few receivers creamed by not looking off the safety before launching a zero touch missile of doom. Ask Vernon Davis about that. Yes the kneeling was a factor in him not getting a job because HE WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE IT WORTH THE BAGGAGE. If it was Russ kneeling, Tom Brady? Big Ben? Mahomes?????LMAO

Too bad the NFL folded.

[RiverDog]

Reid was signed by the Panthers and just inked a three year extension. How was he harmed? Didn't his hiring kind of disprove the whole collusion thing??

A lot of players knelt in support of Kaepernick's actions, including a couple of Seahawks. Reid was simply one that happened to be on the same team. The fact that he or anyone else knelt isn't evidence one way or the other in the collusion case. Kapernick was the first and most prominent.

As for Kaep did his stupid retarded political grandstanding hurt his chances to be on a team? Hell yes because he was an idiotic me first lead from behind aloof guy who according to many 9ers teammates wasn't even sure if he wanted to play. Once teams figured out his running game he became a stiff unfluid in the pocket guy who couldn't read the field and got a few receivers creamed by not looking off the safety before launching a zero touch missile of doom. Ask Vernon Davis about that. Yes the kneeling was a factor in him not getting a job because HE WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE IT WORTH THE BAGGAGE. If it was Russ kneeling, Tom Brady? Big Ben? Mahomes?????LMAO

I agree. Teams almost certainly factored in the PR problems they would have encountered had they signed Kaepernick. Had his skills not been diminishing, one of them probably would have signed him or at least give him a look-see. But in finanical terms, the potential benefit wasn't worth the risk.

Too bad the NFL folded.

I wouldn't use the term "folded" as it implies they had a bad hand, and there's a lot of legal analysts that felt they had a solid case, ie a "good hand".

[mykc14]

Reid was signed by the Panthers and just inked a three year extension. How was he harmed? Didn't his hiring kind of disprove the whole collusion thing??
As for Kaep did his stupid retarded political grandstanding hurt his chances to be on a team? Hell yes because he was an idiotic me first lead from behind aloof guy who according to many 9ers teammates wasn't even sure if he wanted to play. Once teams figured out his running game he became a stiff unfluid in the pocket guy who couldn't read the field and got a few receivers creamed by not looking off the safety before launching a zero touch missile of doom. Ask Vernon Davis about that. Yes the kneeling was a factor in him not getting a job because HE WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE IT WORTH THE BAGGAGE. If it was Russ kneeling, Tom Brady? Big Ben? Mahomes?????LMAO

Too bad the NFL folded.

Yeah, Reid really has no business whining about collusion. He was a FA last year who was expecting to get paid but found a very cold safety market and didn’t get signed until week 3. He used the fact that he signed a 22 mil contract this year to argue that he ‘should’ have been paid last off-season- he’s the same player why is he worth it now? The issue he is missing is the same issue ET is struggling with, the fact that the safety market in the NFL just isn’t very good. Was there collusion against the Honey Badger as well? To me the fact that the NFL settled with both players proves that they only settled to avoid the potential for lost revenue and PR backlash and not because the players actually had a case.

[mykc14]

Looks like they each got less than $10 mil after legal fees and before taxes...



http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2632 ... e-nets-10m

[jshawaii22]

Take it for what it's worth, WSJ reports that was a TOTAL of under 10m for both. I would assume 70% for Kaep and 30% for Reed. Kaep looking at 40% to the lawyer + all his 'expenses' - which are huge. If they actually got 'close to 10m' -- 7 million less 40% less another 20% or so... maybe he clears 3m. Not a bad payday considering he still has his NIKE millions coming every year.

Obviously, there was NO collusion, no case, no nothing. NFL viewed this as a PR move to settle and I'm sure the owners & other NFL personnel that were deposed don't want to testify in open court, as it opens a lot of pandora's boxes, even with no collusion.

[RiverDog]

Obviously, there was NO collusion, no case, no nothing. NFL viewed this as a PR move to settle and I'm sure the owners & other NFL personnel that were deposed don't want to testify in open court, as it opens a lot of pandora's boxes, even with no collusion.

Since the burden of proof was on Kaepernick, it was pretty unlikely that they would have prevailed, so both sides win. Kaepernick gets a couple of million and the NFL has successfully gagged Kaepernick, preventing him from speaking out about it, and they didn't have to go in front of a judge and unzip their fly.