On Friday, the NFL reached settlements with Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid in their collusion suits against the league. The terms are sealed, so we'll never know how much they settled for. But this seemed to be the inevitable conclusion to this all along.
Collusion is virtually impossible to prove. Kaepernick would've needed to provide evidence that all of the teams got together and actively decided, as a group, to keep him out of the league. Believe what you will about why teams that needed a quarterback last season opted for somebody else who may be viewed as "inferior" to Kaepernick. There's no way of knowing what those teams' reasons were. (Maybe they simply didn't want that kind of circus surrounding a backup/replacement quarterback.) And I think Kaepernick's lawyers knew that.
Besides, does anyone actually think the end game for Kaepernick was going to be landing back in the NFL? There's not a single judge out there who was going to order a team to sign him. So really, some sort of financial settlement was really the best he could hope for.
After the settlement was announced, Kaepernick's lawyer hinted that he was close to signing with a team, suggesting the Patriots and Panthers as possibilities. I think it's safe to say New England is highly unlikely, and Carolina is probably wishful thinking, too. Either way, he'd be a backup. And you know he's not going to sign for backup money. So, it's more likely than not that Kaepernick has played his final NFL down.
If this actually was about playing again, he had an opportunity to do just that. The AAF asked him to play, but he turned them down because of the money. Evidently, Kaepernick demanded $20 million when the standard AAF contract is for $250,000. Obviously he knew that demand wasn't going to be met. And, frankly, what does it do for Kaepernick's brand to be the best player in a minor league?
That's what Kaepernick has become. A brand. He can make much more money through his endorsement deal with Nike than he would as an NFL backup quarterback. And you know he wouldn't have settled with the NFL if it wasn't for a lucrative sum. Which lets him continue being a martyr for his cause. It lets his fans continue saying how "unfair" it is that he's being "persecuted" and lets his detractors continue speaking out the other way. If nothing else, we can all agree that Colin Kaepernick is polarizing.
Does the NFL want this to go away? Of course! But that doesn't really seem likely. Kaepernick started a movement that has given a lot of people a voice on either side of the argument. Those that agree with Kaepernick and support what he's doing aren't going to change their minds. They're not going to be happy until he's back in the NFL (which probably isn't going to happen). Likewise, those who disagree with Kaepernick aren't going to change their minds, either. In their eyes, the national anthem controversy (like the Russian doping scandal and the Mueller investigation) has dragged on long enough.
Kaepernick's settling is by no means a sign of defeat, either. The best he could've hoped for was a financial windfall. He likely ended up getting more than he would've had he gone to trial and won. And if he had lost at trial, Kaepernick probably would've gotten nothing. Plus, who knows how many appeals this would've gone through without a settlement?
For the NFL, a settlement was also best-case scenario. The amount of money they gave Kaepernick is peanuts for a $14 billion-a-year industry. And not having a lengthy, drawn-out legal process was certainly in the league's best interest, too. Would they have ultimately prevailed at trial? Probably. But why take that risk and face the inevitable appeals when there's no need to?
As a part of the settlement, both sides signed non-disclosure agreements. They're not allowed to say anything about the case beyond their initial statements to the media on Friday. So, the general public will never know the details since all court documents have been sealed.
However, had they gone through the legal process, they would've had to unseal all of it. Every piece of evidence on both sides. They would've been airing out all their dirty laundry in a very public forum. Which likely would've gotten very ugly. And probably wouldn't have ended well for either side, even though we would've ended up with the exact same solution. So, a settlement was in the best interest of all parties involved.
While the settlement brings some closure to this whole ordeal, it's far from "over." Will people view the NFL differently because of the settlement? Probably not. Does it mean Colin Kaepernick end up back in the NFL? No. Will the conversation that started as a result of his protest die down? What do you think? We're way past that point. But at least the legal process won't drag on. So maybe now the moving on can begin.
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