It’s been over three years since disgraced former San Francisco 49ers quarterback played a down in the NFL when he consistently displayed blatant disrespect towards the National Anthem and the American Flag by kneeling during the pregame tradition.
Kaepernick and his camp desperately want you to believe that he’s no longer playing because NFL owners and executives colluded to keep him out of the league.
But now we’re finding out that might not necessarily be true because Kaepernick demands this ridiculous amount to play football.
During last regular season, the NFL sanctioned and invited all thirty-two NFL teams to a mostly private workout for former quarterback Colin Kaepernick in Atlanta, Georgia in order to prove that there was no collusion against him.
Some people in attendance raved about Kaepernick’s shape and ability, but the fact that he wasn’t signed by a team indicates all you really need to know about Kaepernick’s current quarterbacking skills.
His attorney Mark Geragos claimed two teams with a need at quarterback were interested, but his aggressively optimistic lawyer has said as such before when ultimately nothing happened.
Kaepernick’s camp wants you to believe that it’s all about collusion and they pointed to the fact that the NFL scheduled that private workout on a Saturday during the height of the season when most teams were getting ready to play the following day as proof that it was a charade.
But what if the reason Kaepernick isn’t playing football anymore is for a much simpler reason?
What if it’s all about the ridiculous salary he demands to play?
According to some reports last year, the XFL actually reached out to Kaepernick to see if he was interested in playing quarterback, but new reports suggest he wanted $20 million per year. The top paid athlete in the XFL right now is only $500,000.
XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck noted, “I think his salary demands are way out of our ballpark. was never really a viable option.”
And given that it’s a brand-new league with salary restrictions, Luck didn’t want history to repeat itself after the Alliance of American Football (AAF) folded unexpectedly during its first season.
One of the very first things XFL Owner/CEO Vince McMahon did when he began planning the resurgence of the XFL after a nearly 20-year hiatus.
McMahon told ESPN in 2017 when it was officially announced that “people don’t want social and political issues coming into play when they are trying to be entertained. We want someone who wants to take a knee to do their version of that on their personal time.”
Whether they actually seriously considered Kaepernick who would’ve likely continued protesting the National Anthem, probably wasn’t that serious. Kaepernick would have likely said no to the XFL’s anti-protesting policy.
What if that’s the salary Kaepernick demanded to play in the NFL?
Not a single NFL team can afford that kind of salary hit to their cap for who would essentially be a backup quarterback.
Remember that Kaepernick was beat out by Blaine Gabbert during his final season and the 49ers just went to the Super Bowl so that should be clear-cut that his quarterback play dropped off dramatically and was no longer good anymore.
How would three years off change that? The aging quarterback would only get worse.