Former NFL PR Guy Says Now Is The Time To Sign Colin Kaepernick, Claims Teams Previously Refused Despite NFL’s Suggestion

CNN – When I was an executive in the National Football League a few years ago, our organization was consumed by the case of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback whose silent kneeling protest against police brutality arguably led him to lose his NFL career and not be re-signed by any club. No teams wanted to sign a player — even one as talented as Kaepernick — whom they saw as controversial, and, therefore, bad for business.

The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and other league executives tried to persuade the teams to change their minds. The league sent owners and players around the country to try to lead a dialogue on race relations and to move, as the sociologist and human rights activist Harry Edwards said, “from protest to progress.” Though Kaepernick didn’t get his job back, I thought we had all done a righteous job, considering.

I was wrong. I think the teams were wrong for not signing him. Watching what’s going on in Minnesota, I understand how badly wrong we were.

Signing Kaepernick, they thought, was bad for business. An executive from one team that considered signing Kaepernick told me the team projected losing 20% of their season ticket holders if they did. That was a business risk no team was willing to take, whether the owner was a Trump supporter or a bleeding-heart liberal (yes, those do exist). As bad of an image problem it presented for the league and the game, no owner was willing to put the business at risk over this issue.

The situation in Minnesota right now offers a unique opportunity to deal with the symbols of racial injustice. As a small, but important step, the owners of the Minnesota Vikings, Zygi and Mark Wilf, can send a strong message by offering Colin Kaepernick a contract to play with the Vikings. Bring him into camp, treat him like any of the other players given a chance to play the game they love.

It will not solve the problem of blacks and police violence. But it will recognize the problem that Kaepernick powerfully raised, and perhaps show that, with courage, real progress can be made.

This piece from former NFL EVP of communications and government affairs Joe Lockhart is worth the read after it may have gone under some people’s radars this weekend. And while the idea of the Vikings signing Colin Kaepernick at this juncture may feel like a band-aid on a bullet hole, it does seem to come from a good place with Lockhart. The NFL may have felt like they did what they could to aid Kaepernick’s signing but, ultimately, they didn’t do enough. If they did, he would have been signed.

Lockhart also explained the moment our country’s issues with racism hit home with him, courtesy of Hall of Famer Curtis Martin:

“I’ll never forget one day, back then, sitting in a meeting and discussing these issues, with everyone going back and forth, when Hall of Famer Curtis Martin said he had something to say. Curtis is soft-spoken and incredibly smart. He calmly told a story about going to look for a new house in a neighborhood on Long Island with his wife and being stopped by the police. He was a star player with the New York Jets, but the police treated him like some treat all blacks — as a danger to the community.

“The story made a huge impression on me, as I saw Curtis as a role model for all communities. Yet he lived in a world where, despite his enormous talent and skill, his many good works and success, he was seen as a threat.”

Lockhart doesn’t address the NFL and their owners’ poor handling of the peaceful protests initiated by players like Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid and Brandon Marshall. He also doesn’t address the NFL’s ongoing issues as people, including their own players, skewer the league in response even when they attempt to show support for current protests:

pic.twitter.com/rRUOPpWSpE

— NFL (@NFL) May 30, 2020

On this #BlackoutTuesday, a day designed to amplify the stories, experiences, and work of black people in America, it’s important to not forget Colin Kaepernick. If every person who chastises protesters’ reactions today had listened to the message about police brutality and racism that Kaepernick peacefully introduced to the conversation years ago, we may have avoided more tragic losses of human life.

It may be too late for Kaepernick to find work in the NFL after teams obfuscated his chance to return multiple times over the last few years. But whether he ever sees the field or not again, the man deserves recognition for his attempts to do better for his people (and all people) to his own detriment in a job millions of Americans would do anything to have.

This moment asks all of us for character in the face of adversity. And no recent athlete typifies that quite as well as Kaepernick, a man who’s turned a dream career into one where he’s created real change with millions of dollars in donations and advocacy for those with less of a platform. Change only comes with sacrifice and there are few in the world of sports who typify that like Colin Kaepernick.

Check us out on TWITTER, where we talk sports, share articles, and have lots of giveaways!