Kaepernick belongs in the schoolbooks, but not on the field
*Originally posted November 9th, 2023 on The Delta Collegiate
Modern-day activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is still looking for an opportunity to play in the NFL again, but many believe it may be time for the quarterback to give up on his NFL dreams. Many of us are familiar with the story around him kneeling for the national anthem, and while many of us think that’s the reason that he’s not playing anymore, I am here to tell you that he was simply just not that good at football; he was a celebrity and a system quarterback. Kaepernick has been using the attention he gained from his kneeling episode in 2016 as leverage to try and get a spot on an NFL roster.
Kaepernick's name is in the news again because on opening Sunday of the 2023 NFL season, Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles on the fourth play of the game, and now the New York Jets have a Super Bowl capable roster, but are left without a Super Bowl capable quarterback. Kapernick publicly released the letter he wrote to the Jets general manager Joe Douglas on social media saying that he would like to be a part of the practice squad.“Worst case scenario, you see what I have to offer and you’re not impressed, best case scenario, you realize that you have a real weapon at your disposal in the event you ever need to use it.
Kaepernick’s arrival to the league with two back-to-back Super Bowl runs had not happened before by any other quarterback. This was treated unicorn-like by the mainstream media. He flamed on to the NFL scene in 2012 when he replaced number one overall draft pick Alex Smith in week 10 after Smith went out with a concussion. With his dual-threat style of play, Kapernick gave the 49ers offense a new look, providing momentum to reach the Super Bowl that same season. They eventually lost to the Baltimore Ravens in an epic Super Bowl, where Kaepernick threw for a touchdown and also ran in for one. The following season in 2013, Kapernick would lead San Francisco to a 12-4 record clinching a playoff berth making the 49er’s look like a juggernaut all season. He would come just one throw away from reaching his second straight Super Bowl, but in the mere closing seconds of the NFC Championship game, he threw an interception costing his team the season.
The following year in 2014, Kapernick was given a league average six-year, $124 million contract with incentives by the 49ers, making him the franchise quarterback for the future and the sixth-highest-paid quarterback in the league. He was nowhere near the top of the leaderboards in any quarterback statistics. He showed flashes of moxy to help the team win games, but he also had an impressive supporting cast around him, making his job a lot easier. Hall of Famers and All-Pros surrounded Kaepernick in 2013 and 2014 on both sides of the ball, making him look better than he actually was. The main reason Kaepernick looked so good was the 49ers’ scheme. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s main focus was running the ball. A good run game and great defense are historically a quarterback's best friend. Luckily for Kaepernick he had that luxury his first two seasons. The defense that Kaepernick played with is ranked as one of the top five in the 2010s. Many of them Hall of Famers.
Nearly seven Hall of Famers is the amount of talent Kaepernick was surrounded with in his prime. Being surrounded by such talent made Kaepernick seem like an elite quarterback, boosting his confidence and making him think he was better than he actually was. Before Kapernick took the starting role from Alex Smith in week 10 of 2012, Smith was already 19-5 as a starter for the 49ers, which is not a bad record at all. They didn't have to stick with Kapernick after Alex Smith healed from his concussion, but coach Harbaugh made the decision to stay with Kapernick because of his ability to use his legs and become a dual-threat quarterback. Kaepernick’s rushing ability added another layer of variety within the scheme of the offense, giving the opposing defenses one more task to handle when facing the 49ers. However, defenses eventually figured out his tendencies in later years, and Kaepernick never expanded his skill set.
When you have a team full of all pros and an elite-level coach in Jim Harbaugh, Kaepernick was at best a serviceable quarterback, not elite, but serviceable to plug into the 49er’s already very well-rounded offense/team. He never ranked near the top of the league in any major quarterback statistical category, and, surprisingly, despite his fame, he never even made a Pro Bowl. Kaepernick's most impressive statistical accomplishment on the field is having the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a game with 181. Kaepernick's most notable football accomplishments are his team accolades; he lacks personal accolades that would allow him to advertise himself as the quarterback with the skills he believes he posesses.
His real skill set came into the light between the 2014 to 2016 season. Many of the pro bowlers and hall of famers he played with at the beginning of his career were now gone, and it was now time for Kaepernick to prove himself. He missed the playoffs in all three years, and the team's record regressed year after year. In those three seasons combined, he led the team to an embarrassing 15-33 record. Not only was the team statistically bad, but so was Kaepernick. His quarterback rating from 2014 to 2016 averaged a stale 50.3. That is what you would expect from a backup quarterback. He threw for 41 touchdowns over those three seasons, which is what some quarterbacks do in just one season. After paying someone 124 million dollars, you would expect them to evolve into a leader and cornerstone of a team, but the 49ers just kept losing. The 49ers are one of the most accomplished franchises in NFL history, but they had a swing and a miss with Kaepernick on the field.
The Kaepernick era was coming to an end. He was allowed to prove his skill set when key pieces from their Super Bowl runs started to leave, but he proved to be no better than day-old bread.
During his horrendous 2016 season is when Kaepernick started to kneel for the National Anthem. He started by simply sitting for the anthem, but after talking to retired Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, who also played in the NFL, he persuaded Kaepernick to kneel. This decision came after they reached out to each other to discuss the topic of kneeling and the meaning of the anthem to those who served. Boyer said that he convinced Kapernick to kneel by saying, “kneeling has never been in our history seen as a disrespectful act. People kneel when they get knighted. You kneel to propose to your wife, and you take a knee to pray. And soldiers often take a knee in front of a fallen brother's grave to pay respects. So I thought, if anything, besides standing, that was the most respectful.”
When first asked for his reason for kneeling, Kapernick said that “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” For there is no concrete evidence that America oppresses black people or people of color, there are statistics to back the claims by Kaepernick.
The Washington Post’s database breaks down the stark racial disparities for people in the United States killed by police shootings since Jan. 1, 2015.
• Police killed white people at a rate of 2.3 per million per year
• Police killed Hispanic people at a rate of 2.5 per million per year
• Police killed Black people at a rate of 5.8 per million per year
In other words, Black Americans are more than 2 times as likely to be killed by the police as white people. https://policebrutalitycenter.org/police-brutality/statistics/
In the U.S. during a given year, an estimated 1 million civilians experience police threat of or use of force, resulting in a conservative estimate of 85,000 non-fatal injuries requiring hospital treatment and 600-1000 deaths. Both Black/African-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are twice as likely to experience threat of or use of force during police initiated contact (Bureau of Justice Statistics). Based on CDC data, Black African-Americans are more than twice as likely to be killed and almost 5 times more likely to suffer an injury requiring medical care at a hospital compared to white non-Hispanics.
https://policeepi.uic.edu/data-civilian-injuries-law-enforcement/facts-figures-injuries-caused-law-enforcement/
At this time, Donald Trump was the president of the United States and did more to divide the country on this topic rather than bring it together. Trump went on to tweet on Sept 23 that “if a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our great American flag or country and should stand for the national anthem. If not, you're fired or find something else to do!” He was also recorded at a campaign rally in Alabama saying that if “someone doest stand for the anthem, fire that son of a bitch and get them off the field!”
Kneeling for the anthem was not a topic Trump talked about for long during his presidency. But the topic of police brutality blew up on Trump during the latter part of his term. Trump's comments in 2016 were just the beginning. In May 2020, four years after the kneeling controversy surrounding Kaepernick began, the George Floyd incident occurred. Around the world, marches and protests happened to support the Black Lives Matter movement. One of the main points of emphasis of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 was police brutality, which was Kaepernick's main reason for kneeling. Further, this gives his kneeling actions more validity and legitimacy.
Humans are flawed, and racism helped build this country. I don’t think racism will be solved in our lifetime, but it's nice to have activists like Colin to help make people more conscious that racism exists. It’s a pointless formula for awkwardness and hate which has done more to regress humanity than to progress it.
