Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason believes that free agent QB Colin Kaepernick, who started the anthem kneeling movement, will be signed soon.
“Yes, because I’m telling you, it’s just a war of attrition right now,” Esiason said on Showtime’s Inside the NFL. “There are NFL teams that are desperate for quarterbacks and he just happens to be the next man up … At the end of the day who’s left? And it really comes down to Colin, whether he will accept a certain contract.”
And whether a team is willing to deal with the backlash from some fans troubled by Kaepernick’s anthem kneeling last year, and some of his political commentary.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media on August 27, 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and [police officers] getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
On September 1, 2016, Kaepernick expressed concern with “police brutality” and cops not being trained properly.
“You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist,” Kaepernick said. “That’s insane. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.”
On August 10, 2016, at a 49ers practice open to fans, Kaepernick wore socks with pigs dressed as police officers. Also in the summer of 2016, he wore a shirt at a press conference with the mass-murderer Fidel Castro on it. And he went to to praise the former Cuban dictator.
“One thing that Fidel Castro did do is they have the highest literacy rate because they invest more in their education system than they do in their prison system,” Kaepernick said, “which we do not do here, even though we’re fully capable of doing that.”
Another issue with signing Kaepernick might be related to talent. He didn’t play particularly well his last two seasons in San Francisco, not doing a great job reading defenses.
“He can’t play and ain’t worth the problem,” tweeted New England Patriots radio analyst Scott Zolak.
But if a team signs him, as Esiason thinks is going to happen, that organization might turn-off some of their fans/costumers who might not agree with Kaepernick’s views on the country and police.
And that could lead to a “war of attrition” at the box office.
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