[RD] Colin Kaepernick

[rah]

The Titans signed Brandon Weeden when Mariota got hurt and didn't even give Kaepernick a tryout. Collusion or not, there is zero football justification for that.

You have no idea what money was involved so you can't judge the decision making process.
At least in a court case, those details will be made public and we'll have a better idea.
And if their intent was to tank for a possible franchise QB next year......

But for the record, I do believe there was some collusion but don't believe they'll be able to prove it.
The question will be whether the league thinks it's worth the possible bad press and decide it's in their best interest to settle.

 

[metalhead]

You have no idea what money was involved so you can't judge the decision making process.

A tryout is free. They didn't even give Kaepernick that, but went and actually signed Brandon Weeden and paid him probably a million (prorated) bucks.

We do know the money involved - $0. The suspicion rises to another level now that we're in the realm of QB dreck that one can't even argue Kaepernick isn't significantly better than, and he doesn't even get a tryout. You can't use the "system" argument here either, because Kaepernick's skill set is suited to running the same offense that Mariota runs.

Ultimately I agree with you that it seems an extremely long shot that there will be any evidence to support this claim beyond the circumstantial.

 

[rah]

A tryout may be free but if you knew he was asking for more than you were willing to pay, why would you waste your time asking him to tryout. We just don't know all the facts. But yeah, suspicious as heck. But I like the tanking angle

 

[schlaufuchs]

So the Cubs have only won the World Series once and they are already a great investment? (sensed the obvious sarcasm)

They are not even remotely close to a 'legacy team' or whatever it's called. They are not Golden State, or the Patriots, or whatever.

LOL, a founding member of the National League, and 1st/2nd oldest franchise in the mlb not a “legacy franchise” wtf? And your counter-examples are: a team that was complete dog[excrement] for the last 40 years and only became really good in the last 3 years, largely in the back of Steph Curry’s ankle injury turning out not to be chronic, but only after he inked a contract for utility-player money, and another team that was complete dog[excrement] for the last 50 years and only got really good in the last 20 years by taking a chance on a mostly failed coach who has since turned out to be one of the greatest coaches of all time, and lucking into a 5th round draft pick turning out to be the greatest qb of all time, just as the NFL was changing the rules to make passing-based offenses be THE way to win games. Lolk.

Also baseball is only declining in popularity when you compare national viewership numbers, and you’re comparing an era in which there were only 5 channels and a handful of broadcast sporting events a year to an era with 500 channels, including a number of 24-hour sports broadcast channels and every game of every team is available for viewing. If you look at attendance and local viewership numbers baseball is actually doing really well.

 

[metalhead]

A tryout may be free but if you knew he was asking for more than you were willing to pay, why would you waste your time asking him to tryout. We just don't know all the facts. But yeah, suspicious as heck. But I like the tanking angle

But that's the point, they wouldn't know what he was planning on asking unless his agent is completely inept. You don't make an ask until you know that they want you, or else you'll shoot your value down significantly. And if that information was being spread around the league by owners and/or GMs - that'd be serious collusion.

 

[rah]

I don't know about that. If my fellow owner was chatting with me and mentioned that he liked Colin's skills but he was asking 20 mil a year, that would influence me, but you couldn't prove it was collusion because he kneeled.

 

[metalhead]

I don't think the motive matters. If there is inappropriate sharing of agent-to-team negotiations among owners or GMs, that's a very serious violation of labor law and no doubt the CBA. If teams are found to have colluded, the NFLPA can unilaterally cancel the CBA.

 

[Lexicus]

If teams are found to have colluded, the NFLPA can unilaterally cancel the CBA.

Would they actually do this on Kaepernick's behalf?

 

[rah]

How often has anyone proved that a conversation over drinks occurred? It's been happening for decades.

 

[metalhead]

Would they actually do this on Kaepernick's behalf?

No, but they might do it if they think they can significantly improve the CBA. Kaep hired his own lawyer, but the NFLPA says it will help prosecute the grievance on his behalf.

 

[metalhead]

How often has anyone proved that a conversation over drinks occurred? It's been happening for decades.

Well sure, that's why you are almost certainly correct that they will not be able to produce much, if any, hard evidence to substantiate the claim.

 

[Lexicus]

No, but they might do it if they think they can significantly improve the CBA. Kaep hired his own lawyer, but the NFLPA says it will help prosecute the grievance on his behalf.

Ah okay, that would be good. I know virtually nothing about all this; my knowledge of pro sports almost exclusively comes from brief treatments in college from a labor-employment-relations angle. I am really hoping that this whole business with Kaepernick leads to a labor dispute that effectively destroys the NFL as we know it.

 

[rah]

Even the NFLPA is not that stupid. Hmmm

 

[metalhead]

The players risk debilitating injury or death for mostly non-guaranteed contracts. The NFLPA would do almost anything to convert their contracts to all-guaranteed.

 

[rah]

Almost is the operative word. The length of the average players career is too short to risk a good percentage of it striking.
The older players also won't risk much for the younger players. We've seen it time and time again. They start out strong, and then they cave.

 

[Light Cleric]

The current CBA blows and imo the Steelers(the only team to vote against it) were right. But if Kaepernick's plan is to, in fact, use this as a way to bring down the CBA, it would have probably been prudent to actually, you know, tell the NFLPA his plan instead of letting them find out through the media like all of us. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

Also, the NFLPA has no choice but to support him, really, because they don't get to pick and choose which members they're going to support (they don't defend guys like Greg Hardy because they think they're nice people).

 

[onejayhawk]

You're right. I spent fifteen years as a Union Steward. If a member brings you a grievance, you have to advance it to the best of your abilities, even when it is a transparent attempt to redirect attention from a workplace failure.

J