384 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

I agree that it's lower but it's still as good of a test case as you're going to get. As far as a lot of people were concerned, he was a kneeler, and thus he can GFH. The Panthers knew who they acquired, and so did their fans. 

But he’s also not the lightning rod Kaep has been.

It’s a test case in a way...but the reality is that there isn’t a comp there.

[SportsGuy]

Reid being brought back into the league shows you that teams are ok with some of that off the field stuff.

But again, Reid isn’t the lightning rod Kaep is and, even more than that, an NFL team deemed his talent to be worth more than his distractions.

Maybe someone will do the same for Kaep but Reid is probably a better safety than Kaep is a QB.

[Mackus]

Reid isn't on the same planet in terms of public backlash by a portion of the fanbase of the NFL and each team as Kaepernick.

Kaepernick is the entire public face of the controversy on the national level especially from those who are against or upset by what he's done. Nobody else matters nor is anybody else a similar comparison.

[hallas]

Reid being brought back into the league shows you that teams are ok with some of that off the field stuff.

But again, Reid isn’t the lightning rod Kaep is and, even more than that, an NFL team deemed his talent to be worth more than his distractions.

Maybe someone will do the same for Kaep but Reid is probably a better safety than Kaep is a QB.

 

After thinking about this a little bit, I think that the threshold for acceptable distraction is much higher for Reid, a safety, than it is for Kaep, a QB.  My guess (based on pretty much nothing other than gut feeling) is either there is no acceptable amount of political/social activism distraction that teams are willing to take on for a QB, or that he would have had to been Russell Wilson/Lamar Jackson circa 2019 for multiple straight seasons in order for teams not to care.  I believe that, given the blue-collar nature of football fandom and the fact that Kaepernick's viewpoints were hugely at odds with said fan base, having Kaepernick play the most prominent position on the field had the potential to seriously affect the NFL's financials.

 

So in a sense, yes, he's not good enough, but I don't know if anyone would be good enough.  Kaepernick at his best was probably around top-1/3, so he was nowhere near the very high threshold likely required for the NFL to be willing to put him out there despite his activism.

 

Also, the fact that Kaepernick is coming off as combative about this whole ordeal is likely to rub a bunch of alpha male billionaires the wrong way.  I'm sure he's aware of that, which leads me to the conclusion that his activism is more important to him than his football career.  That's fine and is his prerogative, but he's certainly not making it easier for teams to hire him.

[The Epic]

Reid isn't on the same planet in terms of public backlash by a portion of the fanbase of the NFL and each team as Kaepernick.

Kaepernick is the entire public face of the controversy on the national level especially from those who are against or upset by what he's done. Nobody else matters nor is anybody else a similar comparison.

 

Fair enough. I disagree to an extent, but I have no way of proving otherwise.

 

I'm just saying that (and I think we've talked about this before in previous iterations of this saga) people can get as mad as they want, but the backlash would be offset by 1) Fans who will go overboard to offset, and 2) The entity being an established, popular brand. Brands like Chick-Fil-A and Nike, for example.