It doesn’t seem that long ago that President Donald Trump shook up the NFL with his comments about players who kneeled during the national anthem, a gesture inspired former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to protest police brutality. Trump suggested players who made this move should be “fired” from the league and referred to them as “sons of bitches”. It was pretty clear on where he stood about that particular action. So fast forward to 2019, where Kaepernick has been out of the league since 2016 – the season of his protest – and has been making it known he would still like to have a shot in the league, in the wake of settling a collusion lawsuit with the league. But despite his own comments at a rally in 2017, Trump seems to have changed his mind…to an extent. According to USA Today, the Commander-in-Chief believes Kaepernick should get another shot if he is worthy.
“Only if he’s good enough,” explained Trump, who once suggested Kaep go to another country and wrote off his Nike advertisement as sending a terrible message. “If he was good enough, they’d hire him. Why wouldn’t he play if he was good enough? I think if he’s good enough, I know the owners – I know (Patriots owner Robert) Kraft, I know so many of the owners – if he’s good enough, they’d sign him.”
Trump also spoke on any potential hype surrounding a team signing Kaep. He thinks that his skillset should override the attention.
“Frankly, I’d love to see Kaepernick come in, if he’s good enough. But I don’t want to see him come in because somebody thinks it’s a good PR move.”
Kaepernick last played an NFL game in 2016 for the San Francisco 49ers, the year in which he began his protest. Since his release from the Niners, it has been tough for him to get an opportunity in the league. Many have assumed it was his actions of kneeling during the anthem that have left team owners petrified, thinking many people within their fan bases would protest them by not watching or attending games. There has also been many people to believe that the owners were colluding to keep him out of the league because of the owners’ personal beliefs. That latter was challenged in a lawsuit that was settled in February.
In spite of the drama, Kaepernick has remained head strong in his social justice mission as well as trying to keep his football dreams alive. He has been running the Know Your Rights campaign in the Bay Area, an organization teaching kids about police interactions. He renewed his deal with Nike that he had a player, to be featured in the advertising campaign celebrating the 30th anniversary of their “Just Do It” slogan. A few days ago, Kaepernick released a video detailing his training regimen to remain in shape for another at the NFL.
The bigger story here is Trump’s apparent change of heart for whatever reason. It might get lost on lot of people’s memories how chaotic things were when he made those initial statements. At the time, everything surrounding the kneeling controversy had sort of died down, then the debate was ignited in the wake of his speech at the time. The funny thing about what he said is that a lot of fans have blasted teams for choosing less-than-spectacular quarterbacks, in particularly Nathan Peterman. Kaep played 6 seasons in the league, led a team to a Super Bowl and was a solid starter before running into a shoulder injury; he has proven he can be more than “good enough” for whatever team needs a quarterback, even if for the short term. The president has a right to change his mind but it can’t just be dismissed as simple as that. You have to wonder what’s the reason by making this suggestion. Hopefully, the owners might see that some of the hype and backlash will die down, and bring him in for a shot at playing that’s more than “good enough”.