Most of us know of how Colin Kaepernick’s, former NFL quarterback for the 49ers, collusion case came to be. Back in 2017, Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem for the football games. He began kneeling because he wasn’t happy with the way the country had been treating his people, because of police shootings and innocent people dying without cause. He felt until we do something about these acts he wouldn’t be standing for the national anthem as a protest. Before taking this action, Kaepernick talked to some veterans of our nations army to ask if kneeling during the anthem was disrespectful to them in any way, and if so what else could he do that wouldn’t disrespect them. When asked, the veteran, Nate Boyer former Green Beret, said no it wasn’t offensive at all, but the rest of the United States didn’t seem to agree with the veteran. Many, including citizens, The League [NFL], and our President, believed that Kaepernick’s actions were highly offensive, and very disrespectful.
Because the president tweeted that Kaep and those who kneeled with him should be fired, the league cowered into the shadow of the president’s Twitter and fired both Kaepernick, and Eric Reid, Carolina Panther Safety. After being fired, Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance report against the NFL, because he believed that he and Reid were fired for no reason. After a year of being fired, Kaepernick, while continuing his training, was signed to Nike’s 30th anniversary ‘Just do it’ campaign. His motto in the campaign was ‘Believe in something, Even if it means sacrificing everything.’ As great of a campaign as this was for Nike, and how great it was for Kaepernick, the country was in total outrage. Many began cutting and burning their personal Nike products in protest to the company for signing Kaepernick. But of course this didn’t bother Nike’s sales, in fact, it actually increased them by $6 billion according to a Vox websource.
Although Reid starting kneeling after Kaepernick, before the collusion case was settle Reid was already invited back into the league not as a 49er, but as a Panther. After reviewing exactly what went on throughout the year and why, the biggest question left over is why did the NFL really fire Kaepernick? When weighing out the different ‘crimes’ that go on in the league Kaepernick’s seemed tiny compared to the other things other players have done. So why did the NFL fire Kaepernick? Was it because they are ‘ride or die’ American citizens who take pride in our nation’s anthem? Was it because of their plummeting ratings? Were they only dropping him to please long term fans? Or did they do it because the President decided to take a trip to his Twitter account? No one is absolutely sure about why, but now that his grievance has been settled, maybe we’ll get more answers from the league itself once they release more about the grievance.
Since Kaepernick’s settlement was leaked over the weekend, NFL and their affiliates have been trying to downplay the fact that Kaepernick took down the NFL. Even though his settlement was said “not enough to cover yachts for his third generation,” according to Sports Illustrated websource, his settlement was still in the millions. No one’s completely sure of the exact amount Kaep was paid, but according to a few different sports news web-sources, Kaepernick was paid somewhere between $40-80 million dollars. Including his actual net worth of $20 million, as of 2018 according to Banking Grates websource, and adding the settlement payment with his Nike payment, it is said to be ‘millions per year’ according to Charles Robinson Senior reporter for Yahoo Sports. Since Kaepernick is still signed with Nike, after the settlement was released, Kaepernick and Nike released his new jersey. It’s called Kaepernick’s ‘icon jersey.’ It’s an all black jersey with white lettering with Kaepernick’s name and number that has already sold out.
Although the IRS taxed Kaepernick’s settlement, lots of NFL affiliates and the league itself downplayed the amount that he received, and Kaepernick stopped working as of the end of the 2016 football season, it can be agreed upon that Kaepernick is still living comfortably. Even if Kaepernick never plays for the NFL again in his lifetime, it’s safe to that Colin Kaepernick will be more than fine when it comes to salary.
