The Undefeated Blog Writer Suggests Kaepernick Sue the NFL

July 1st, 2017 3:03 PM

A Kaepernick v. NFL lawsuit would be music to the ears of one media apologist for the renegade former quarterback -- and to entitlement champions everywhere. Jason Reid of ESPN's satellite blog, The Undefeated, suggests the unwanted Colin Kaepernick could potentially sue the National Football League because no team has signed him.

Implying Kaepernick is entitled to a roster spot on a pro football team, Reid wrote "the quarterback, who has been passed over repeatedly for jobs this offseason — jobs that have gone to far less accomplished passers — could potentially sue the league."

Reid also admits the NFL is under no requirement to employ Kaepernick and added that Commissioner Roger Goodell "refutes the claim that the NFL is punishing Kaepernick for his anthem protest and is determined to end his career."

Yet Reid attempts to justify such a lawsuit. He writes, "It’s clear, however, what has happened to Kaepernick. All anyone has to do to see it is open their eyes, USC law professor Jody David Armour said."

Armour, the author of Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America, told Reid: “Some people will say that he isn’t with a team because he hasn’t earned it on the merits, he hasn’t earned it with his performance, not because owners and others have issues with his political positions." Then came Armour's "but monkey'':

But it’s hard to look at statistics on the number of players who have signed contracts who haven’t been to the playoffs, who haven’t been to a Super Bowl and who can’t point to the kind of record that he can point to and say that there isn’t something going on here in the way of a message being sent out in some kind of discrimination.

Reid found additional support for the possibility of a lawsuit from Susan Carle, a professor of law at American University’s Washington College of Law -- an expert in discrimination, labor and employment law. She said professional sports teams “have the complete right to choose the person they think is going to be best, and they can make that decision based on any reason except an illegal reason. So the only way that Kaepernick would have a viable lawsuit would be if he could show they were using an illegal reason” not to sign him. “And illegal reasons could include … race discrimination.” Carle said Kaepernick would "face a high bar to prove his case."

Another hurdle for Kaepernick would be the fact that nearly 70 percent of the players in the NFL are Black, making it difficult to portray the league as a race discriminator.

Despite the high bar, Reid insisted on yet another possible justification for a lawsuit by Kaepernick.

It seems apparent owners are using Kaepernick to dissuade players from being socially active during business hours, USC’s Armour said, which could also be part of a legal argument — if Kaepernick decides to make it.

There's not a shred of evidence of such collusion. Each team makes player personnel decisions on its own needs. Besides, Seattle is the only team that interviewed Kaepernick and its coach, Pete Carroll, said more than once that he approves of his players' activism. Reid cited just one current NFL player who said Kaepernick is "just not worth the hassle." And anonymous players don't control the league.

The bottom line for Reid is that anyone who supports politically correct causes is supposedly entitled to employment in the NFL.

Short of filing in the court of an activist judge, a potential lawsuit by Kaepernick would be plagued by bad facts and would have no legal legs whatsoever to stand on.