Colin Kaepernick has been waiting patiently for his next NFL opportunity. His patience has now expired.
PFT has confirmed that Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the NFL under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The grievance alleges that the NFL’s teams colluded in not signing him to a contract, presumably due to his decision to kneel during the national anthem in 2016.
Kaepernick has retained outside counsel to handle the claim. The NFL Players Association will remain in touch with Kaepernick as the grievance proceeds; however, Kaepernick’s private counsel will be spearheading the effort.
The filing of the grievance was first reported by Mike Freeman of BleacherReport.com.
Kaepernick became a free agent in March after opting out of the final year of his contract with the 49ers. (San Francisco G.M. John Lynch has said that the team would have cut Kaepernick if he hadn’t opted out.) The Seahawks brought Kaepernick in for a visit, but did not sign him. The Ravens were considering adding Kaepernick during training camp. Owner Steve Bisciotti publicly acknowledged that fans had expressed opposition to the possibility.
The last straw may have been the failure of the Titans to give Kaepernick a tryout after quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered an injured hamstring. The Titans instead brought in Brandon Weeden, Matt McGloin, Matt Barkley, and T.J. Yates, before signing Weeden.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy already has said that they won’t be adding a quarterback in the wake of the broken collarbone suffered by Aaron Rodgers. If the Packers were inclined to add a quarterback, Kaepernick could make sense. His grievance, however, could cause teams to view him differently (even though the filing of a grievance should not be held against him).