There's 1 question unsigned NFL anthem protesters can't answer
As the initial waves of free agency have wrapped up in the NFL, a small contingent of vocal anthem protesters still find themselves unemployed.
In fact, the first two players to ever kneel during the national anthem, former San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, remain unemployed despite posting decent stats at their respective positions the last time they each played pro football.
In fact, the issue surrounding Reid and Kaepernick has a new 49er pondering if “legal action” should be taken.
“We are concerned because he played at a high level for just about every year that he’s played in this league,” former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said of Reid at his 49ers introductory press conference Tuesday, per the Mercury News. “He’s made enough plays to be signed with a team and to make his money. He deserves his money. If safeties make a certain amount, I would think he’s top five, top 10 safeties in this league.
“He deserves to be paid accordingly, so there is concern there because you think a player of his caliber and his quality would be picked up by now.”
Added Sherman: “Great teams are still looking and people are still looking for players, so I’m praying that he gets picked up. But if he doesn’t, I think there will be a conversation with the league office and the union, potential legal action.”
The ongoing unemployment of Kaepernick and Reid has publications like Bleacher Report wringing their hands and claiming that the two aren’t being signed because of their political activism.
Let’s do a thought experiment.
Let’s say that Reid and Kaepernick are the absolute best players at safety and quarterback, respectively (which, for the record, they unequivocally are not in real life). Let’s say that the NFL is a brutally racist organization that fully supports police brutality. All the owners want nothing to do with Reid and Kaepernick because of their wildly unpopular stances (within the realm of this hypothetically racist NFL) and general divisiveness. The owners also want nothing to do with the media attention that would come with Reid and Kaepernick.
Now, here’s the unflinchingly honest question that Reid, Kaepernick and all of their supporters will never be able to answer.
So what?
If an organization has two viable candidates for a position, one slightly more talented than the other but with far more baggage, why shouldn’t the organization take the slightly less talented player?
Much to the chagrin of Reid and Kaepernick, that’s not “blackballing.” It’s not a place for “legal action.” And it’s certainly not collusion.
It’s the unfair reality of being employees in a private business entity.
There’s absolutely nothing stopping Reid and Kaepernick from protesting for their causes.
By that same token, there’s absolutely nothing stopping a private employer from deeming a potential hire as a toxic cultural or philosophical fit.
The shelf life of an NFL athlete is already exceedingly short. The shelf life of a politically active NFL athlete is evidently much shorter.
That’s not a punishment. That’s a consequence.
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