Tim Tebow has signed a one year contract to play tight end for The Jacksonville Jaguars. Colin Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016. Stephen A. Smith of ESPN decided to edify us with what he thinks is the reason; that good old reliable – racism. The problem is the two cases are far from identical.

Colin Kaepernick had a meteoric career culminated by a very good but insufficient performance in a narrow loss for The San Francisco 49ers against The Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII in February 2013.. He became the most feared quarterback in the NFL but several seasons later, his performance was slipping and he fell from a QBR (Adjusted Quarterback Rating) of 73.7 to 43.7. It was around this time that he began his protest kneeling against social injustice and police brutality.

That protest expanded to other NFL players and to other professional sports players. NFL viewership slid by 8% and Kaepernick was released by San Francisco. There was legal action and an undisclosed settlement. Since then, Kaepernick has tried to sign on with other teams with no success.

Tim Tebow by contrast played during three NFL seasons. In one, he took his team to the playoffs but his performance was spotty. But he grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and played for Urban Meyer the new Jaguars coach when they were at The University of Florida. He has a loyal following and will fill the stadium.

Kaepernick may have generated support from other players but he has also generated a lot of opposition. Teams are businesses and have to consider the bottom line and Kaepernick is liable to draw opposition demonstrators. Teams are justified in viewing him skeptically.

Kaepernick should have thought about these things as possible consequences. He’s stuck with the results. It ain’t racism. It’s the bottom line.

May 27, 2021

~ About the Author ~
Dr. Roderick T. Beaman is a board certified family osteopathic physician who practices in Jacksonville, Florida. A native born New Yorker, he is happy to be out of that pit of liberalism. A libertarian with little use for government, he is the author of an on-line piece that won a Ron Paul Liberty in Media Award. He also is a composer.