This is basically a joke to everyone but Kaepernick. As of last year, he wanted to return to the league as a starter only and expected a salary north of $20M/year. That all but guarantees nobody would seriously consider him. If the guy had any smarts at all, he would have signed as a backup years ago on a "prove it" contract.
He obviously should have never been out of the league but after 6 years its almost certainly too late. Its laughable to say he should have signed as a backup when as far as we know he had no offers to do so
Regardless of your stance on the man, it's been 6 years. If all these other players can come back from criminal backgrounds and get a second chance, after 6 years, Kap deserves a second chance.
6 years is why I don't think it would work. That is a long time for him to be out. I blame teams for not signing within those first couple of years but I don't blame anyone for not doing it now.
When? He opted out if that is what you are referring to but they were going to release him and they told him so
well, there you go HE opted out. He was under contract and decided to opt out. no one else wanted him.
that may be true, but he still opted out. I've been told at work I was not going to be kept around. However, I did not opt out and ended up being retained.
John Lynch made it perfectly clear that Kaep was going to get cut and even confirmed in an interview. Staying would have delayed the inevitable.
Again same thing happened to me, and I was retained. There was corporate meeting saying yes, we are going to cut this group. Had been given and end date and everything. If I had left i could certainly claim "I just avoided the inevitable." He did this to himself by opting out and then expecting others to pay him same amount even though it was clear is his market value was not there. On top of that he decided to make things political AND turn people off making 50k a year by saying his making millions was like being a slave. I know, I get it, he wants to play the victim.
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Your workplace and the workplace of the NFL are two different environments. Just because your situation ended up one way, doesn't mean Kaep's situation wouldn't have ended up differently. He's in the NFL, where, 99% of the time, if a player is told he'll be cut, he is cut.
Then why didn't they cut him? Why was he not cut before he was told. Facts are if he had played it out things could have turned out differently. You can defend him all you want, but that won't change the fact it is on him.
I don't think it matters whether Kaep was cut or not- the result would have been the same. He decided to walk away from the 49ers and he's made it clear that he expected a significant raise and a starting position. Nobody gave him that- plain and simple. Now, maybe he'd be in the league right now if he'd accept a more team-friendly offer. Maybe not. But when you make those types of demands, teams have every right to not sign you. That shouldn't be shocking to anyone. I'll share a similar story- Matt Moore. He started for the Panthers for a few seasons, got his brains beat in from multiple concussions, and he got benched. He asked for a trade and nothing surfaced...he wasn't going to be a starter anymore. So he had a decision to make, just like Kaep did. Heck, so did Tannehill for that matter. Our guys, they sucked up their pride and accepted that bench role supporting their team. And both became starters once again, after they proved their worth. But guess what- if either of them said, "Start me day one and give me a raise," both of them would be out of football as well. That's just how it works. Some of you may think the protests had something to do with Kaep not finding a team- and who knows, maybe you're right. But that was never the main factor in any of this. His expectations of deserving a starting role and deserving 20M+ a year is what kept him out of the league. That's on him and nobody else. Kaep just got terrible advice and vastly overestimated his worth. Everyone has to earn that starter position, no matter who you are or how talented you might be.
We don't actually know what he would have wanted and no team was even interested enough to find out how much he wanted The 20 million number you mentioned is what it was reported to have wanted to play in one of the other football leagues. In terms of the NFL the only thing we got was in 2017 when it was reported he wanted a chance to compete to start and 9-10 million. There just isn't any evidence of what you are saying. Its certainly not true because the NFL would have loved if a team offered him a backup job and for him to turn it down because it would have been leaked instantly and changed the narrative.
And if I went to a casino with a bucket full of quarters and played all the way through to the last coin at a slot machine, maybe I'd hit a jackpot big enough to make the trip worth it. But the chances of that happening are about the same as 49ers having a change of heart on Kaepernick - astronomically low.
Do your research. He's talked to multiple teams, worked out for two teams, plus held his own combine. His agent has also said at least a dozen times that he was close to receiving an offer...but that never happened publicly. The reason for that is exactly what I said- he demanded a starting role and $20M/year.
That is totally irrelevant to the discussion. What we do know for a fact is that Lynch did not release him. Another fact is that K walked away. Like it or not those are the facts. It is possible that had he stayed perhaps Lynch would have changed his mind.
I am not saying you are lying but can you give me a link? All I can find is about him wanting 20 million to play in AAF or XFL. 1 visit and 1 work out in 6 years is an comically low number for someone with his career by the way You mention his agent but his agent also said in 2019 that they demanded no specific salary and had little to no interest The facts are also that John Lynch said him opting out was irrelevant because he was getting released Plus they still could have changed their mind and tried to resign him in that fantasy scenario
You just admitted they could have changed their mind... they could equally of changed their mind about releasing him.
My point is about your hypothetical and in that scenario what difference does it make if he opts out or not? Nothing is stopping them from calling his agent and trying to get him back on a new deal. The reason why you dismiss that is because you know the same thing I do which is they made up their mind and were never going to change it.