Quarterback Colin Kaepernick finally arrived at the Ravens’ facility. But he wasn’t there to sign a contract. He was there to witness a stream of questions arising from the fact that he was never offered one.
CBS Sports reports that Kaepernick exercised his prerogative to personally attend the depositions of G.M. Ozzie Newsome and coach John Harbaugh.
In many cases, it’s critical for the party who initiated a grievance or lawsuit to attend depositions because that person can help the lawyer frame follow-up questions based on first-hand interactions with the witnesses. Kaepernick had limited, if any, interactions with Newsome or Harbaugh; still, being there shows his commitment to the effort to prove that the NFL and its teams acted with coordination in avoiding him.
And that’s really what any collusion case is. The basis for the collusion doesn’t matter. If these 32 supposedly independent businesses coordinate in any way when it comes to the collective work force, a violation of the labor deal.
The collusion/coordination can be over anything, legitimate or illegitimate. In this case, the fact that collusion/coordination may have happened over such a polarizing topic (Kaepernick’s role in starting the anthem protests) has made the collusion case necessarily more polarizing, too. At its core, however, all that matters is whether collusion/coordination occurred. If it did, and if Kaepernick can prove it, the NFL has a problem.