Report: Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid settled for less than $10 million

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The specific amount remains unknown. The ballpark has now been identified.

Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal reports that the collusion grievances filed by Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid settled for less than $10 million.

It’s not a surprise. Last month, we outlined the factors supporting a conclusion that the amount was far less than the numbers that initially were thrown around. We invite you to refresh your memory.

There’s another important factor bolstering the notion that the settlement was less than expected: Kaepernick remains unemployed, even after the Dolphins were fumbling around for a quarterback, Kaepernick reportedly was interested, and they signed Ryan Fitzpatrick instead. The ongoing shunning of Kaepernick, notwithstanding the latest failed prediction from attorney Mark Geragos that Kaepernick would be signed within two weeks of the settlement, suggests that the league has no concerns about another collusion claim, or an argument that Kaepernick is the victim of retaliation for the filing of his prior collusion grievance.

125 responses to “Report: Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid settled for less than $10 million

  1. Fins fan here. Kaepernick would’ve given the Dolphins the best chance to win. Glad they decided against that. Tank for Tua or Hold out for Herbert.

  2. The only reason the payment was made was because it was less than the expected legal and PR costs that the NFL would have to lay out to carry the claim to its conclusion. If Kaepernick and his lawyers really felt they could win they would not have accepted the payoff.

  3. I like Kap. Happy he isn’t my QB though. Physical ability doesn’t outweigh the circus it would bring. No team wants that problem. It is as simple as that really.

  4. he aint any good, the media has been spinning this forever.
    its over and he’s done like a burnt steak

  5. Que all the anti Kaepernick trolls smh. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people.

  6. I know that to the average person (like me, for example) that $10M is a ton of money, but weren’t they supposed to get, well, more?

  7. Phins might be one of the few teams Kaep could at least not make worse, but no way they’d take on a guy who’d turn up to games in a Castro tee – and nor would such a diva get the dough or last a year on a team that under Flores are trying to adopt an ego-less, business-like Patriot Way.

  8. What a clown. Malcolm Jenkins agreed to settle with $90 mil going towards projects dealing with racial inequalities and Reid called him a sellout. Now look at him. At least jenkins had a purpose and wanted money to go towards a good cause. This dude is garbage.

  9. a joke they got anything at all. complete mismanagement from king clown goodell for not nipping this in the bud.

  10. Its really been all along that if teams each have scouting that says he is a bad qb then they are all going to shy away. Especially if he has grandios ideas over what he should be paid and what role he should be put into.

    If he thinks teams have gotten this wrong the best thing to do would be to circulate a workout tape. And then make himself available for low level prove it opportunities. Frankly the AAF is not a bad idea, but if he wants the NFL go in and start as a camp arm. If he does prove he can play more doors will open. Thats really how it works.

  11. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 mill. Colin won because of the NFL settling. The settlement does not necessarily admit guilt, however it does show guilty conscience and I’m good with that. This is not a good look for the NFL. Good job Eric and Kap! Thank you for representin!

  12. What exactly would have to occur to make this go away? He got his money. Nobody wants him as their QB. Let it go. Move on. Yesterdays news.

  13. So they settled for one seasons worth of salary?

    Sounds like the NFL wins again.

    No collusion!

  14. The $10 mil was a nuisance settlement.

    Here, have a few bucks and never bother us again.

  15. The guy has been out of the league for how long? He opted out of his own contract. Turned down Denver’s offer. Let’s not forget about the Castro incident…in Miami. He never will and never should play in the NFL again. Stop trying to say he’s such a great guy. Also, he wants you to believe he grew up in the hood in Milwaukee. He grew up in Brookfield. Outside of Milwaukee. Upper middle class town. He’s a liar and attention seeker.

  16. The settlement amount indicates that the NFL viewed this as a nuisance lawsuit which was cheaper to settle than to fight.

  17. His style of play leaves him vulnerable to injury. If he goes to the AAF and gets hurt, he’s done. But that’s his right. Me….if I’ve been out of my field for a while and want to get back in, I have to go somewhere and prove my worth. It scks, and feels demeaning, but I gotta do what I gotta do, pride be damned. If I don’t do it I don’t get it. I’m not sure where the disconnect is with Kaepernick. Perhaps his early success with Harbaugh has his self esteem at AOC levels?

  18. It’s not a surprise. Last month, we outlined the factors supporting a conclusion that the amount was far less than the numbers that initially were thrown around
    ******************
    Dude pretty sure you were part of the crowd initially yelling $75mm

  19. Because Goodell is “PC” and failed to act quickly the NFL must pay the price of extortion.

  20. This is a ridiculous move by the NFL.

    As a business owner, I’ve learned through many years of experience that the key to success is hiring all of the people who sue you. Guy who found a hair in his soup? He’s the manager now. Guy who slipped on the floor and sued for millions? He’s the company lawyer!

    It just makes sense.

  21. you dont sue a company and then have real expectations you will be offered a job by that same company a few weeks after its over with do you? he says he wants to “just play football” but demanded $20 million from the AAF.. bruh.. thats now how this works.

  22. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people.

    *******

    Yes. 20 year military vet.

  23. So much time, energy, and money wasted over a guy who is forever overcompensating for the fact he was raised in upscale California suburbs by loving white parents. #StreetCred

  24. ncintron76 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 3:01 pm
    It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 mill. Colin won because of the NFL settling. The settlement does not necessarily admit guilt, however it does show guilty conscience and I’m good with that. This is not a good look for the NFL. Good job Eric and Kap! Thank you for representin!
    ——————————————
    You’re wrong but if it helps you sleep at night, bon appetit.

  25. i kinda want to see this clown play again, just to show the world how crappy he is at QB

  26. If he’s serious. Play in the AAF or XFL next year. show people what he has left. If he can’t wait then play in the CFL in July. No one has a clue how good he is NOW because it’s been 3 years since he played.

  27. dadindebt6 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:51 pm
    “The only reason the payment was made was because it was less than the expected legal and PR costs that the NFL would have to lay out to carry the claim to its conclusion. If Kaepernick and his lawyers really felt they could win they would not have accepted the payoff.”

    Very accurately stated. If Kaep and Reid felt truly justified, they would have held out just on principle, being that they are supposedly “social justice warriors”. But, as the settlement has shown, they were simply whining to snag themselves some free publicity and an uncontested payday in lieu of standing up for what they supposedly believed in.

    Conclusion? Kaep and Reid were sellouts to their own self generated clown show. Neither of them held events or supported their contention off the field ( well, Kaep gave a few dudes a suit… ) and, in the end, they took “thirty piece of silver” to settle a claim over an incident they they themselves generated. All these schoolkids who waited to be inspired by their “idols” were instead left holding the bag.

  28. I fail to see why either got a dime for what they did.

    They had NO RIGHT to protest on the employer’s clock so they stole time from the employer; their actions contributed to their non-employment and also the subpar performance of Colon combined with his REFUSAL to Denver’s employment offer.

    Quite frankly, the employers should be suing both for millions in damages.

  29. Not sure why you advocate for Kneeler-nick to be back in the NFL but obviously, IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!

    He (and Reid) signed a contract with the NFL that gave him (and Reid) millions an in exchange, the NFL and the teams cannot be accused of or sued for anything related to their inability to play in the NFL again.

    They got millions and gave up their “right” to criticize or sue again for collusion.

    Buh-bye Kneeler-nick!

  30. There’s another important factor bolstering the notion that the settlement was less than expected: Kaepernick remains unemployed, even after the Dolphins were fumbling around for a quarterback, Kaepernick reportedly was interested, and they signed Ryan Fitzpatrick instead. The ongoing shunning of Kaepernick, notwithstanding the latest failed prediction from attorney Mark Geragos that Kaepernick would be signed within two weeks of the settlement.

    You wear a Pro-Castro T-Shirt and then expect to get a job in Miami where all of the Cubans who fled Castro’s brutal regime live ?
    Mark Geragos also said he had the “smoking gun witness, bombshell etc” coming any day now.
    This guy has less credibility then the John Lovitz SNL character Tommy Flanagan. Yeah, signed in two weeks, that’s the ticket.

  31. “the league has no concerns about another collusion claim, or an argument that Kaepernick is the victim of retaliation for the filing of his prior collusion grievance.”

    If the league directed a team to sign him, that would be actual collusion. Every QB not signed would have direct evidence that the league is engaging in activity to deprive them of open jobs.
    If they were worried, the NFL could offer him a job. Not as a player, but as some Executive Vice Director of Social Something Something.

  32. That’s alot of money. I work in Education and I know I’ll never see that amount just like 99.99999999% of you bloggers.

  33. Kaepernick is the NFL version of Marge Schott praising a dictator. Instead of the league forcing him out, all 32 teams themselves decided he was unwanted.

  34. But… but… his media supporters were sure it was between $80 and $100 million! There are going to be some shocked and upset reporters over at another sports site beginning with a Y.

  35. ezmoney365 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:51 pm
    Que all the anti Kaepernick trolls smh. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people.

    ————————————————���——

    I’m against any political nonsense at an event I paid to see.

  36. And there you have it: by settling for a tidy (but not overwhelming sum), Kaepernick proves that he cared more about getting some level of payday than by winning his case – because he knew he would never win in court. The NFL pays its flawed commissioner $40M or so a year, so was probably happy to pay this price to make this race-fueled effort just go away. Remember, the reason the NFL usually fights in court tooth-and-nail is because those cases involve league powers and CBA interpretations, and this was something else entirely.

  37. “It’s not a surprise. Last month, we outlined the factors supporting a conclusion that the amount was far less than the numbers that initially were thrown around.”
    ==========================

    Sorry, but PFT set the over/under at $49.5m. Revisionist history to say you “called it” now.

  38. Hahahhaha….The 32 NFL Teams have to split the cost of this settlement …..What will they do now ? How can they afford to layout the $315 thousand dollars each to make a QB that made it all about him for selfish reasons under the guise of being a warrior of the people …just go away Kap you had nothing & were a gimmick .

  39. All these players looking to raise awareness about “Social Justice,” should boycott and kneel over Nike and their exploitation of minority workers (including children.)
    AND their participation in the perpetuation of the exploitation of minority children who feel that they MUST have $200.00 sneakers. Even though very few of these families can afford that kind of money for a shoe. (That these children will outgrow in the blink of an eye.)

  40. He always went about it the wrong way; Let’s be honest it’s a shallow, misguided, and impotent form of protest. It’s accomplishes nothing other than “look at me I protest police brutality”. It’s lame, if you really care that much about police injustice towards people of color(which assuredly exists) then get into the community and make a difference. Meet with cops, politicians, have a plan of action for awareness and change. Cause if all your doing is taking a knee it’s the equivalent of saying to a murder victims family “I’m sorry for your loss”. Sure it’s nice but it doesn’t help them in any significant way. Buck up and take some real action. What has Kaep done in that regard ? Nothing, all fizz no gin. That’s Colin Kaepernick

  41. bird2urmother says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:57 pm
    What a clown. Malcolm Jenkins agreed to settle with $90 mil going towards projects dealing with racial inequalities and Reid called him a sellout. Now look at him. At least jenkins had a purpose and wanted money to go towards a good cause. This dude is garbage.
    __________________________________________________

    This! Reid and Kaep got a personal pay day.

  42. Florio always forgets that Kaepernick screwed himself out of a job in Miami with the Castro Incident. Funny how that’s never mentioned, and it’s always collusion instead.

  43. “The ongoing shunning of Kaepernick, notwithstanding the latest failed prediction from attorney Mark Geragos that Kaepernick would be signed within two weeks of the settlement, suggests that the league has no concerns about another collusion claim, or an argument that Kaepernick is the victim of retaliation for the filing of his prior collusion grievance.”
    ——————————————————————
    What does the signing of Erid Reid to a new 3 year contract mean then??

  44. If Kaepernick was just using a social cause as a way to get money then one can say he won. That’s one way of looking at it. If however he was sincere and living and breathing that cause then he lost. He settled for about half of a one year’s starting salary for a QB and had to give up a whole NFL career to get that. How many seasons at around $20M/year on an average on today’s starting QB salaries that he’ll miss out on? Don’t know how a $10M max payout can be a win. And if you divide that by 32 billionaire owners it comes out to about a hot dog for each of them. So they basically gave him chump change for them and told him to take the money and his cause and scram. And he did.

  45. Here’s what I want to see from Kaepernick’s camp……a statement saying he’ll accept a backup role and backup money.

    It’s easy to allege that the NFL continues to shun and collude against Kaepernick, but he’s yet to say or show that he’ll sign for league minimum or a prove it deal as a backup. If he continues to demand 20M to sign, no offers will be coming.

  46. So many haters here who’ve never played a down in the NFL nor ever served your country! What do you know about any of it?!

  47. ncintron76 says:

    March 21, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 mill. Colin won because of the NFL settling. The settlement does not necessarily admit guilt, however it does show guilty conscience and I’m good with that. This is not a good look for the NFL. Good job Eric and Kap! Thank you for representin!

    ——

    Often all that settling shows is that it’s cheaper and faster to give you some money to go away than it is to pay the lawyers and the PR team to take you through the process — its called a “nuisance settlement”

  48. ezmoney365 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:51 pm
    Que all the anti Kaepernick trolls smh. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people.

    ———————
    Honestly I’m not giving that a thought either way. Just noting that in the end it was not collusion. If it had been these guys would have been due a fortune (I belueve the CBA stipulates triple damages). What the NFL did was calculate what it was going to cost them to take this all the way through a court process (probably another 15 million in legal fees) and then paid them an agreed upon fraction of that to save the cost and effort. That Kapernick made some money on this does not bother me in the slightest. Its not my money so whatever. That Geragos made a few million on it actually does offend me, he bled Kaepernick for that money and strung him along for extra bleeding. The world would be better without that type of lawyer.

  49. ezmoney365 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:51 pm
    Que all the anti Kaepernick trolls smh. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people.
    —————————————————————————————–
    Your name says it all.

  50. Even Florio should be able to admit that Miami may not be the ideal destination for Kaepernick considering his pro-castro comments.

  51. The lawyer probably got most of it. I’m sure CK will file another collusion lawsuit next year too. He’ll still make more money filing lawsuits than he would from any contract. Let’s face it, if teams thought he could play they’d sign him.

  52. No offense to all the haters but when is the last time you got a $10M settlement? For anything? I am not even a Kaepernick fan (because of his play, not because of his activism) but I think that is a pretty good payday when he has already been pretty well paid.

    And the comment that “it is clear he doesn’t want to play football anymore” is utterly ridiculous. Yes he does. He has been trying. That is the …wait for it….foundation of the collusion case. He has also been actively seeking employment for years. That is the…wait for it….foundation of the collusion case. The fact that he is asking $20M…in my mind – because of his play – it’s too much.

    Now drop the vitriol and realize a reality. Jags paid Blake Bortles $18M a year. Houston paid Osweiler what…$19M? It isn’t unreasonable to ask. I would.

  53. byHim4u says:
    March 21, 2019 at 3:29 pm
    How’d they get their information? I don’t believe the story.

    ———————
    Go to the WSJ and they speakto that. Also note the WSJ is very careful about what they publish, they verify via multiple sources before they do.

  54. Enough to pay his lawyers and a little walking around money. The settlement happened a day or two after it leaked that he wanted &20 million to play in the AAF. He had no leg to stand on after that and took what he could get.

  55. I don’t get how you’re trying to turn this into a win for Kaepernick. Ryan Fitzpatrick has more wins than Kaepernick has had since 2015 in the last year alone, by the way. He also led the league in passing while he was a starter. He also did not ask for $20 million from two different start up leagues nor did he request a starter’s salary with the NFL. Lastly, he can play more than a read option scheme. Why are you trying to compare the two?

  56. Collusion is kind of hard to prove without direct evidence. One or two owners saying things independently does not mean there was any tacit agreement among the 32 owners not to sign Kaepernick. Owning a football team isn’t just about winning and losing. It’s about selling beer and popcorn and making sure seats are filled so that you can do that. $10 million for the nuisance to go away is just that – a nuisance payment.

  57. charger383 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 3:33 pm
    should take it out of Goodell’s pay

    @@@@@@@@@@@@

    I don’t understand the hatred towards Goodell. Okay let’s say you and all the pat fans get their wish and Goodell is replaced. Fans do not vote on next commissioner, the NFL owners will hire the next commissioner and guess what…….. he will be the exact same as Goodell.

  58. objectivefbfan says:
    March 21, 2019 at 4:36 pm
    No offense to all the haters but when is the last time you got a $10M settlement? For anything? I am not even a Kaepernick fan (because of his play, not because of his activism) but I think that is a pretty good payday when he has already been pretty well paid.

    And the comment that “it is clear he doesn’t want to play football anymore” is utterly ridiculous. Yes he does. He has been trying. That is the …wait for it….foundation of the collusion case. He has also been actively seeking employment for years. That is the…wait for it….foundation of the collusion case. The fact that he is asking $20M…in my mind – because of his play – it’s too much.

    Now drop the vitriol and realize a reality. Jags paid Blake Bortles $18M a year. Houston paid Osweiler what…$19M? It isn’t unreasonable to ask. I would.

    ——–

    He didn’t want to play football. He wanted/wants to be paid millions of dollars. If he wanted to be playing football, he’d be playing…. wait for it…. football. Like Manziel.

  59. defscottyb says:
    March 21, 2019 at 4:15 pm
    Hope he saves it… will be working at McDonalds in a few years

    @@@@@@@@@@@@@

    Will all of you stop with the flipping burgers and Micky Dees. A McDonald’s franchise depending on where it will be is between
    250K – 500K. Theses guys can buy a franchise before they work at one.

  60. It was a probably just enough to pay their legal fees and get out from under and settle before they ran the risk of bigger fees and losing.

    It had probably become obvious they were going to lose and this was a chance for everyone to move on and stop wasting time/money.

  61. Mark Geragos will most likely get 40% of their award, which 3 million a piece is not that bad………Oh wait, those pesky taxes….. even at 24% of 10 mill would leave them with 7.6 million, then add in Geragos 40% leaves them with 3040000 divided by 2, and they are left with 1.52 million a piece.

    If he would have just kept his mouth shut and stopped being a NFL thorn a team would have signed him. I guarantee he would have made more then 1.5 million.

  62. if Kaepernick believes in himself do what Andre Dawson did in baseball 1987 when the owners colluded he signed a blank check agreeing to play just for the minimum and prove himself..he did and is in the HOF, Kaepernick is in the Hall of Shame, forever

  63. sinsor13 says:
    March 21, 2019 at 2:44 pm
    One dollar is less then 10 million…..

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    And still $1 more than they deserve.

  64. Can you imagine scrutiny if a team signs him??
    The media will hound the coach until he starts him. If he doesn’t start him, he’ll face all sorts of accusations.
    If he starts him and benches him…..all heck will break loose.
    If the team eventually is forced with the decision to cut him….well, they’re just begging for a lawsuit.

    It’s not worth it.

  65. I presume those divas are giving every dime to the social causes they allegedly care so much about…

  66. Que all the anti Kaepernick trolls smh. Ask yourself this, if kaep had taken a knee(advice taken from a green beret) in honor of veterans who are mistreated by this country in the lack of help they recieve when trying to reaclomate to society after war would you still be mad at him for kneeling considering it was pro American soldier? If not then you are not mad at his actions, you’re mad at his message, thus proving the whole pointbin the first place…you just dont like that he stood up for non white people

    Strawman argument

  67. Kaepernick’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, is now being identified as a co-conspirator with Michael Avenatti in an extortion case against Nike. I don’t know what that says to all the Kaepnerick apologists about the kind of people he’s involved with, but I know what it says to me.

    I really hope Kaepernick can now finally go away — forever. He got some money (more than he deserved but probably still very little) and a TV commercial. And he fooled a lot of social justice warrior non-football fans into believing that he actually could still be a successful QB in the league, if only someone would give him a chance. I guess that’s “going out on top” Kaepnerick style.

    But god, I hope it’s finally over. Please don’t ever make any of us have to hear that name again.

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