Colin Kaepernick’s inability to secure a position in the NFL “has nothing to do with him being blackballed” for political purposes, said former NFL quarterback Michael Vick on Monday.
Kaepernick’s performance over recent years has been lacking, said Vick. He spoke with Jason Whitlock for FSN 1.
Partial transcript below (emphases added).
WHITLOCK: Colin Kaepernick, for a different set of reasons, is having a hard time getting back into the NFL. He’s got some controversies surrounding him that has to do with his protest. What do you think about the way the NFL is treating Colin Kaepernick? Some people are saying he’s being blackballed, I happen to think that it’s about teams wanting their quarterback to be all in.
VICK: It has nothing to do with him being blackballed. The gesture that he made last year when he took the sn to do what he did. Listen, we all appreciated it. We respected it. And it was a good thing. I really think the stand that he took has nothing to do with not playing in the National Football League, right now. And being frank, Colin didn’t have the best two years, his last two seasons. It wasn’t as productive as we’ve seen him do. And maybe it’s due to coaching changes and musical chairs and positions around him, and the players. But I think, in terms of him getting back on the field, it’s gonna have to be a team that can suit out his skill set and what he does.
Watch the interview below; relevant portion at 8:37.
Kaepernick received news media attention last year following his endorsement of racial agitation narratives framing blacks and “people of color” as oppressed groups by and relative to whites; a neo-Marxist paradigm in which non-whites are cast as a neo-proletariat.
Aligning himself with the Black Lives Matter movement, Kaepernick pushed the aforementioned narrative in an interview with NFL Media:
I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.
Kaepernick repeatedly kneeled during pre-game playings of the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
The Washington Post (WaPo) hyped the aforementioned narrative, crediting Kaepernick’s inability to secure an NFL contract as political backlash. WaPo presents itself as a politically objective and non-partisan news media outlet.
H/T Michael David Smith at NBC Sports.
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