Quarterback Colin Kaepernick hasn’t said much since his quest for a job began in March. After his experience from Saturday night, he likely will be saying even less.
Jason La Canfora of CBS says that he spent a “few hours” with Kaepernick on Saturday night. It wasn’t an interview, per se; as one source with knowledge of the situation explained it to PFT, it was a chance meeting involving Kaepernick, La Canfora, and a mutual friend.
During Sunday’s edition of The NFL Today on CBS, La Canfora summarized his discussion with Kaepernick, which primarily consisted of a rehashing of things previously known or reported. As to the key question of whether Kaepernick will continue to kneel during the national anthem, La Canfora said this: “He’s not planning on kneeling. He’s gonna donate all his jersey sales. And he’s planning on standing for the anthem, if given the opportunity.”
That contention sparked a strong online reaction, which has been echoed by Kaepernick. The claim: The issue of whether Kaepernick would stand or kneel for the anthem wasn’t discussed with La Canfora, at all.
Now, La Canfora has abandoned his prior assertion, pointing out that he didn’t talk to Kaepernick about whether he plans to stand or kneel for the anthem. Instead, La Canfora says that he was simply relaying what had been reported about Kaepernick planning to stand. (The on-air segment made no reference to any other reports.)
This makes the whole thing even more bizarre. How could La Canfora spend a “few hours” with Kaepernick and not have the question of whether he’ll stand or kneel for the anthem come up at all?
Prior reports have indicated that Kaepernick will stand for the anthem in 2017, but circumstances have changed significantly since then. With so many players now kneeling (23 members of the 49ers took a knee on Sunday), the question has become much more complicated for Kaepernick. And, at least for now, the question of whether he’ll kneel or stand isn’t relevant, since he continues to not have the opportunity to make that choice.
The question of whether he’ll be giving any actual, formal interviews probably has been resolved, for good.