An online poll revealed Colin Kaepernick as the most disliked player in the NFL.
An E-Poll Market Research poll showed that 29 percent of respondents labeled the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback a player they “disliked a lot.” Just six percent said the same of Kaepernick two years ago.
Kaepernick continues to refuse to rise for the national anthem before games. During the preseason, he wore socks depicting police as pigs and claimed cosmetologists receive better training than cops. Despite the publicity generated by the quarterback, he boasts not a single snap behind center this season. The 49ers travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks this Sunday.
Five other NFL players knelt during the national anthem this weekend. All but one member of San Francisco’s Mission High School took a knee during “The Star Spangled Banner” in imitation of Kaepernick on Friday. On Tuesday night, most members of the Oakland Unified School District’s Honor Band similarly took a knee near the end of their performance of the song at the O.co Coliseum before the Oakland A’s-Houston Astros game.
Other players making the list earned enmity as a result of questions of sportsmanship, off-field issues with the criminal justice system, and for sustained success alienating fans of rival teams. Fans also “disliked” Jameis Winston, Ndamukong Suh, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger in double-digit numbers.
Kaepernick enjoys great popularity among African American respondents. More than four in 10 said they liked him a lot while just one in 50 said they disliked him a lot. Among whites, negative responses outweighed positive ones 37 to seven.