{"id":1148,"date":"2019-11-18T09:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2019-11-19T09:37:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T15:37:16","slug":"plenty-of-blame-to-go-around-in-kaepernick-and-nfl-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/plenty-of-blame-to-go-around-in-kaepernick-and-nfl-fiasco\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenty of Blame to Go Around in Kaepernick and NFL Fiasco"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/colin-kaepernick-2016-08-27t153522z-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/colin-kaepernick-2016-08-27t153522z-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/colin-kaepernick-2016-08-27t153522z-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/colin-kaepernick-2016-08-27t153522z-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/colin-kaepernick-2016-08-27t153522z-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick stands on the field before their NFL pre-season football game against the Denver Broncos in San Francisco, California, U.S. August 8, 2013. REUTERS\/Stephen Lam\/File Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Colin Kaepernick claims that he wants to be back in the\nNFL.&nbsp; The NFL claims it wants to give him\nthe opportunity to make that happen.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neither statement appears to be true.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the finger pointing reached epidemic levels on\nSaturday, one key fact became clear.&nbsp;\nThere is plenty blame to go around.&nbsp;\nYou can nitpick all you want, you can point fingers in either direction,\nbut it is clear that there were a lot of better options than what happened, a\nresult, that ultimately will provide trouble for both sides\u2014unless you believe\nKaepernick\u2019s sole mission is to get attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at some of the basic facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The NFL set up a workout for Kaeperncik at the\nAtlanta Falcons facility in Flower Branch. For those that have not been there,\nit is located in the far NE suburbs of Atlanta, and on the complete opposite\nend of town from the airport (a fact that might be important later)<\/li><li>The NFL did not allow Kaepernick to select the\ndate.<\/li><li>The NFL did not consult with Kaepernick or his\nagents and representatives about the date.<\/li><li>The NFL did not consult with the teams about the\ndate or location of the workout and unilaterally scheduled the date without\ngiving them any advance notice until the release went out.<\/li><li>NFL player tryouts are typically held by teams\non Tuesdays.<\/li><li>On Saturdays, most NFL personnel are either\ninvolved in preparing for their Sunday game or scouting major college football\ngames in person.<\/li><li>Most NFL workouts are closed not only to the\npublic, but to the media and also to a player\u2019s agent (or other representatives).<\/li><li>Players are not allowed to film their own\nworkouts nor do they get tape of that workout to distribute for any other\npurposes.<\/li><li>Players are routinely asked to sign injury\nwaivers to participate in the workout.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So against that backdrop, we can now see how unreasaonable\nboth sides were in the way that they handled this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Problems with NFL Position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my view, the biggest problems with the NFL action related\nto unilaterally scheduling the date and doing so without any input from\nKaepernick or the other NFL teams.&nbsp;&nbsp;\nSetting the workout on a Tuesday may have had some good, though as yet,\nunarticulated purpose.&nbsp; However, from the\noutside, it appeared to be set in a way that would create a lot of hype, but\nwith little substance, since it would make it difficult for many teams to\nattend.&nbsp; The injury waiver requirement is\ninteresting.&nbsp; Some reports have\ncharacterized it as a standard media waiver.&nbsp;\nOthers have highlighted the significant distinctions and sided with\nKaepernick\u2019s counsel who classified it as overreaching.&nbsp; You can judge for yourself by reading this\ngreat analysis by Michael McCann who writes for Sports Illustrated.&nbsp;&nbsp; While the NFL does not typically allow\nworkouts to be filmed, it is obvious that this case is anything but\ntypical.&nbsp; For instance, the NFL typically\ndoes not set up the workouts nor does the NFL distribute film or reports from\nthe workouts to all of the NFL teams.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bit of advance planning with Kaepernick\u2019s camp could have\nprevented some of this drama and ultimately I think the NFL should have relaxed\nits positon on the media attendance at the workout.&nbsp; The league\u2019s statement Saturday afternoon\nabout Kaepernick\u2019s no-show struck me as a bit disingenuous because while that\nwas technically true, the league had knowledge that Kaepernick had moved the\nworkout.&nbsp;&nbsp; So while its seemed reasonable\nto me to express frustration with that decision and the burden it put on\ntraveling scouts, classifying it as a \u201cNo-Show\u201d hardly seems accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Problems with Kaepernick Position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my view, ultimately Kaepernick came out the loser in this\nbattle.&nbsp; The NFL is big.&nbsp; The NFL is powerful.&nbsp; The NFL will survive even if Kaepernick does\nultimately file (and even win) a lawsuit.&nbsp;\nHis time clock is ticking and his actions alienated a lot of teams in\nthe league and likely pissed off many in the scouting community who felt that\nthey were bending over backwards to give him a chance, only to be given\nexceedingly late notice to move to a different location over an hour away. In\nmy view, his behavior in moving the workout, especially on late notice, was an\nattempt to take control of a workout that was never his to start with.&nbsp; If Kaepernick want to have his own workout,\nhe could have done that at anytime over the last few years.&nbsp; You know why he hasn\u2019t?&nbsp; Either he wasn\u2019t interested, he wasn\u2019t in\nshape or he knew that NFL teams would not attend.&nbsp; So now with the league extending an olive\nbranch (as flawed as it may have been), Kaepernick would have been better\nserved to accept it for what it was an build on it from there.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ask yourself this questions: If any person\nwho works in finance was given an opportunity to interview for an executive\nposition in an elite Wall Street firm, how would that firm react if the\ninterviewee suggested on less than an hour\u2019s notice that preferred to do the\nmeeting in Hoboken, NJ and asked them to travel there to meet him.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My position does not minimize Kaepernick\u2019s important message\nand the courage it has taken him to stand up and fight for what he believes is\nright. But it does seem to me that this is another step in the wrong direction\nfor him, just as were the pig police socks he wore after his initial\nprotest.&nbsp;&nbsp; The saddest part to me is that\nhis entire message has been garbled and the power of his stance has been\nweakened dramatically from what it could have been and he has received far less\nsupport from the players (and probably also the league) because of those\nfactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, I believe that because of his actions, many\nteams in the league now believe that Kaepernick was not that serious about\nreally trying to play football.&nbsp; That\nimage has been consistent for the last few years and Saturday\u2019s fiasco did\nnothing to indicate a serious intent to be part of the league.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, neither side is blameless.&nbsp; But the negative repercussions are worse for\nKaepernick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Colin Kaepernick claims that he wants to be back in the<br \/>\nNFL.&nbsp; The NFL claims it wants to give him<br \/>\nthe opportunity to make that happen. Neither statement appears to be true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[294],"tags":[604,296,6,609],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}