Depositions From 2 Deceased NFL Owners Could Play Role In Kaepernick Collusion Case - Report
Many of us are still waiting for Colin Kaepernick’s legal team to produce its “smoking gun” in regards to the former 49ers quarterback’s collusion grievance against the NFL.
That “smoking gun” was promised more than a year ago, and not much has come out regarding Kaepernick’s claims that the league is colluding to keep him unemployed.
While there have been trickles of information since then, including an arbitrator sending the collusion grievance to trial, there has been little meaningful development regarding the case.
The latest developments, according to a CBS Sports report, are certainly raising some eyebrows.
First, much to the surprise of nobody, the NFL and Kaepernick are reportedly nowhere near reaching any sort of settlement.
Considering the NFL’s virtually endless legal resources and how deeply Kaepernick has dug in his heels, that’s not exactly news to anyone who’s been paying attention to the grievance.
With no settlement in sight, multiple sources have told CBS Sports that both sides are preparing for a grievance hearing early next year.
The hearings are tentatively being scheduled and will reportedly take place in Philadelphia.
Final details are still being figured out, though reports suggest the hearing will happen over two weeks and take place in an “upscale” Philadelphia hotel.
The collusion hearing will involve many people, including owners, general managers and coaches. Several coaches, including the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh, the Green Bay Packers’ Mike McCarthy and the Houston Texans’ Bill O’Brien, have already been named as targets for deposition.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is another person of interest, which is to be expected considering that he’s the face of the league’s front offices.
But curiously, a pair of owners who recently passed away have been tabbed to be part of the deposition as well.
Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen and Texans owner Bob McNair could both play a role in Kaepernick’s grievance. As strange as it would be for two men who cannot defend or explain their comments to be a part of this, CBS Sports is reporting that recorded depositions from the discovery process are likely to be admitted.
At the end of the day, Kaepernick still faces a monumental uphill battle to prove his case.
There’s some, but not a lot, statistical evidence to suggest that Kaepernick is demonstrably better than the quarterbacks currently in the league. But statistics are only a small part of the story.
As privately owned teams are wont to do, they are well within their rights to decide that the media coverage and circus-like atmosphere that would accompany a Kaepernick hire is not worth it for a backup quarterback.
But more importantly than that, Kaepernick and his legal team will have an extraordinarily difficult time proving collusion. Owners deciding that they don’t want Kaepernick, even if for identical reasons, is not collusion. Kaepernick would need definitive proof that at least two owners, general managers or league executives spoke (via text message, email, etc.) and explicitly decided that they are conspiring to not sign Kaepernick.
Without that aforementioned “smoking gun,” it’s highly unlikely Kaepernick’s grievance will go anywhere.
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