I've seen plenty of feedback on Tebow from conservatives -- i.e., he was ridiculed, harangued by the media, and ultimately driven out of football for kneeling in prayer.

I really want to respond, "I'm pretty sure he was driven out of football mostly because he could only complete 50% of his passes."

But I'd say the same thing about Kaepernick, too. You have more of a margin for being controversial (or even flat fucking up) if you're in the elite tier. If you're replacement level, your job was on the block at the end of your contract whether or not you kept your mouth shut.

Problem is that Kaepernick is above replacement level. And much better than many of the QBs that moved this off-season.

He's not a star, but he's definitely worthy of a roster shot on talent alone. Add in the social commentary...I understand why teams wouldn't want to give him a shot, but it still seems hard to believe that ALL of the teams wouldn't want to. I wonder how this latest step in the controversy changes that dynamic, if it all.

Kaepernick looked good before the league figured out how to defend the read option. Since then the only time he looked good was Chip Kelly's joke of an offense that made Nick Foles look like a superstar, and even then he was under 60% completions. He's not above replacement level in an actual NFL offense.

I'm pretty sure that would involve the interstate commerce clause, meaning that it would need congressional action.

His career QBR is 88.9, which over the last three seasons (2014-2016) ranks ahead of 16, 16 and 18 teams in the NFL. In 5 full seasons he has been 90 or better 3 times, with only one season below 86. I would say he is at least worthy of a back spot for 18-20 NFL teams currently. He is a shade under 60% in his career for completion pct, but he does not turn the ball over much either, being in single digits in picks every season but one, when he threw 10, so he is not going to kill you there either.

Let's not forget that he also opted out of $14 million guaranteed and asked for starter money. He's a gimmick QB who thinks he should be paid like a star. His career QBR is irrelevant to each individual season. His rating under Harbaugh running the read option was 98.3, 91.6, and 86.4, going down each year. His rating under Kelly running the Duck offense was 90.7. The one year in a traditional offense was 78.5. You're not getting starting QB money, or a guaranteed starting job, when your one season in a traditional offense was 78.5.

He's a guy who completes somewhere around 59% of his passes and doesn't have anything that suggests he'll succeed in most NFL offenses. Couple that with the circus around him and the money he was demanding, and you've got a recipe for unemployment.

McConnell has a -42 net approval.

With Trump voters.

I'm not sure I understand the genius of Trump's "Fuck all these Republicans!" strategy.

Colin Kaepernick is not supposed to be unemployed.

Linked in that article: Colin Kaepernick is better than Joe Flacco.

While the majority of the second article is "Joe Flacco is completely terrible," it goes on to show that in advanced metrics Kaepernick has improved significantly, improving his ability to read defenses, move within the pocket, and throw extremely accurately in short range passes (top five in the league accurate), all while suffering the worst catch rate on catchable passes in the league, suffering through multiple offensive coordinators, and having garbage talent around him.

And when the team that employs Flacco was ready to sign Kaepernick, his psychotic girlfriend called the team owner a slave owner. Kaepernick is where he is because he can't play in a real offense, wants to be paid like a starter, and has more controversy and nonsense around him than Tebow did.

If he was that good he would be playing.

He isn't Tom Brady, but he isn't Matt Barkley, Geno Smith or Dan Orlovsky either. Many players have been given jobs after far more egregious acts than taking a knee, which we have entire teams doing now. I get why he doesn't have a job, but it's not like he is the outlier anymore. And the starter money narrative is not true, his agent released details of what they were looking for and it was not 10 million as was reported.

He does need to tell his girl to stay out of the equation.

Everything you have said in here is true except for the "can't play in a real offense" and "if he was that good he would be playing" parts. The articles show that he is, in fact, that good. Better than half the QBs in the league in raw stats, and even better than that gives him credit for in the advanced look. He is an above-average quarterback by definition. But he's unemployed.

I'm not saying I don't understand it - I totally understand it. I also think it's stupid, and that teams are hurting themselves performance-wise by ignoring him.

Did those other players demand more than $14 million per year and have a girlfriend call one of the team owners a slave owner when he was set to sign them?

He played 1 season in a real offense, 2015. If they break down that season, compared to someone like Flacco, then I'll be interested. What he did last year was irrelevant, it's the same offense that made Nick Foles look like a star.

BYU mentioned his salary demands were not that high, per the agent.


That's the point, they aren't breaking down the offense - they're breaking down things like individual throws by distance and accuracy, his ability to read the defense and check down his options.

I don't believe agents, period, and his agent only said that after teams were leaking his demands to the press.


The numbers are context specific. The offensive system clearly plays a role in a player's production. Jared Goff under Jeff Fischer to Jared Goff under Sean McVay is already looking to be exhibit A in that situation.

Take your gratuitous football talk elsewhere. What kind of place do you think this is?

I don't know if I can be clearer - they looked at his numbers and showed that he was better than half the league. Then, in an effort to eliminate the context you continue to harp on, they analyzed aspects of his game that are not context dependent. How he moves in the pocket to avoid a pass rush has nothing to do with the offensive scheme. Whether or not the throw he made on a given play was accurate has very little (if anything) to do with scheme. They specifically analyze these things to eliminate as much scheme/relative talent bias as possible.

CK opted out of a completely non guaranteed contract. He didn't want to go thru all of the preseason without a guarantee. His contract was changed in 2016 and he waived some injury guarantees at that time so they would let him play.

Even if CK had picked up his player option, the Niners likely would have cut him.

I think we have evidence now that kneeling wasn't the thing keeping him out of the league - kneeling is now the cool thing to do and even some of the owners are doing it. (And all are defending it).

I feel like with Kaep there's more of a total package there - the Castro worship, the girlfriend, the police pig socks - and his comments about what the protests meant to him and what his views are are a lot different than the way the players talk about the protests now. It's evolved a lot, it's gotten more NFL- and corporate-friendly. (I wonder how Kaep feels seeing Jerry Jones kneeling with players and chasing down a cameraman to make sure he gets on TV- we might only be a couple of weeks away from this all becoming a Pepsi ad.) I think if Kaep was an anonymous personality and was willing to pay for the minimum, he'd have a job, but he's not nearly good enough to overcome the character he's created for himself. That's not crazy or unprecedented, I think plenty of fringe guys in sports (or business) can find themselves on the outside if they're too controversial.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/06/nf...lin-kaepernick

That's an article that touches on why NFL coaches aren't as high on Kaepernick as you might think with his stats.

Kaep struck me as a guy who looked super elite at times and then would miss throws that a third grader could hit. He should be rostered somewhere as he's probably a top 25 QB or better.

China is adding some pressure. Not sure how much of a real impact but it seems more than what they have done in the past.

China Ordered All North Korean-Owned Businesses to Close

So they're going to try and make it Trump's Puerto Rico?

It is just me or is Trump actually making more progress on North Korea than the past couple presidents?

Or do I just have amnesia?

I'm not sure I would call it progress but Trump has certainly "unsettled" the crazy kid more than past Presidents acting with the presidential constraint.

I don't think anyone has made progress with North Korea. They're still moving forward on nuclear weapons. That's the problem and it's difficult to say Trump has made any progress when they're comfortable enough to fire misses over Japan.

Chicken or the egg I guess. He seems less willing to put up with their nonsense but in turn I think that has led to more nonsense.

All Trump has done is accelerate the craziness of North Korea. He's basically pushed them into warp drive because he has the decorum of a special needs chimp.

Detroit Lions' Akeem Spence: My father lost a job due to my protest

Despicable doesn't even begin to describe it. Herr Trump has made it okay to target the livelihood of black families.

Yep, play the victim card.
Sounds like the player may have thought about the consequences of HIS actions.
Maybe he should have thought about what could happen.

Part of the problem is no one accepting responsibility for their actions. It is always someone else's fault.

Lost a job? First, the guy is a contractor and was looking for work, he wasn't fired. Second, the dude in charge of hiring people simply said "Hire you? Nope."

That is a *far cry* from the insinuation of the headline - that a football player's father was fired from his job because of the player's protest.

What bullshit. Sec. Price is going to reimburse the government for his carter planes, by paying the equivalent cost of a business class ticket.

Not the difference between business class and charter, just the cost of business class tickets.

How brave of Twitter. I could have done that in 5 minutes on a Saturday morning.

Wouldn't hire somebody that I knew raised a complete p.o.s. like his son either.

Every last one of the bastards should be unemployed.

So I'm reading about this great tax reform and part of the plan is to eliminate the deduction for state income taxes paid. Like seriously what the fuck.

Lets get this clear - you consider him both a p.o.s and a bastard because he's making a polite and peaceful protest about what he sees as an unfair issue in society ... how would you consider it acceptable for him to make this point and protest?

(bearing in mind that in many of the NFL cases the team owners have demonstrated they SUPPORT the protests so you can't say 'he shouldn't do it at work'... the work has accepted its alright to and as a free country it is surely their choice to make that decision?)

Only if you think it's fair to do the same to Magamorons.

Answer: There is no form of protest that they'd accept. Look at the 72 olympics. It's nothing new.

It'll be interesting to see what happens this Sun.

My guess is fan backlash made the Packers blink and use the stand-and-link-arms vs the take a knee/seat variant.

Which Green Bay Packers Sat During the National Anthem? [Sept.*28]

Just to be clear, if it was the pre-Trump protest, the owners did not support it.

If it was post-Trump, the owners "supported" it more as a defense mechanism than believing the Kaepernick pre-Trump stance.

I thought the increase in HSA contributions was going to be part of it but I didn't see any reference to it. Major disappointment if its not included.

Yeah the NFL realizes football has plenty of "blue color" good ole "patriotic" Americans that won't tolerate disrespecting a symbol of white privileged. I don't expect NFL to support the player protests now that (white) fans are starting to complain.

I actually saw two adult men come to blows tonight NOT because of either man kneeling during the anthem. Man #1 did not have his hand over his heart during the anthem. Man #2 called him on it. Man #1 did not appreciate having his patriot card pulled. Words were exchanged and then punches were thrown.

Fun times at youth football!

Stupid. I have never put my hand over my heart because, but hold the anthem in total reverence.

Really? We have now reached the point where the American flag/National Anthem are referred to as symbols of white privileged? The hyperbole on both sides continues to amp up with each passing day.

Delanie Walker, who went on a USO tour this summer and has done several activities for military personnel, is getting death threats for telling people who don't like the protests that it's their right to stay home from games if it offends them. So, yes, when black athletes are getting death threats for protesting violence against people of color in society, it is being used as a means of oppression for those who experience white privilege.

Do you really consider nuclear brinkmanship progress?

I view it more as "playing ego games with millions of people's lives," but whatever.