Colin Kaepernick's lawyer says NFL owners were colluding by 'kowtowing' to Donald Trump
Colin Kaepernick’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, has added a Donald Trump twist to his collusion accusation against the NFL.
Geragos went on the “Today” show on Thursday morning and responded to the comments NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made about Kaepernick at his Wednesday news conference, and he didn’t stop there. He blasted NFL owners for colluding, but said they were doing it to appease President Donald Trump.
Geragos goes in hard on the NFL
On Wednesday, Goodell was asked why Kaepernick remains unsigned at his pre-Super Bowl news conference. Goodell emphasized that there is no collusion — every team makes its own decisions based on its best interests and what it takes to win — and if a team thought Kaepernick could help, it would sign him.
[Ditch the pen and paper on football’s biggest day. Go digital with Squares Pick’em!]
Geragos found that laughable (not surprising since he and Kaepernick have filed a collusion grievance against the NFL), and ripped it apart from several angles. But amongst his assertions about Kaepernick’s shape and the unlikelihood that 32 owners would separately come to the exact same conclusion in the exact same way, he dropped an interesting tidbit about the root of the alleged collusion. Geragos said that Trump’s very public disgust with Kaepernick’s kneeling to protest police brutality and criminal injustice drove the owners to collude to freeze Kaepernick out of the NFL.
“The collusion actually was the NFL kowtowing to the president — I think it’s clear, I think the evidence will show that when we do the hearing .”
“I think the commissioner was roasted appropriately on social media… The whole thing is basically a ruse. The collusion actually was the NFL kowtowing to the President.” Mark Geragos, Colin Kaepernick’s attorney, on Roger Goodell’s recent comments about Kaepernick pic.twitter.com/91zD2KNM5z
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 31, 2019
Geragos didn’t elaborate, and clarified that none of the owners has publicly admitted to colluding. But he said “there isn’t anyone who has a couple of neurons firing that wouldn’t say this isn’t collusive activity.”
Kneeling, not winning, is still the issue
Geragos tore apart Goodell’s comments from Wednesday in other ways. Goodell maintained that if an NFL team thought Kaepernick could help them win, it would sign him. But Geragos said on “Today” that Kaepernick works out all the time and remains in stellar shape, but zero teams brought him in for workouts.
Instead, quarterbacks who were, as Geragos put it, “well past their prime” were brought in instead. He pointed to Mark Sanchez as an example, and he fits the bill perfectly. Sanchez was signed by the Washington Redskins after both of their quarterbacks (Alex Smith and Colt McCoy) suffered season-ending injuries. Sanchez played in two games and completed just 19 of 35 passes for 138 yards. He threw zero touchdowns and three interceptions.
According to “Today,” Geragos also brought up the situation involving the Carolina Panther’s Eric Reid situation as more proof that the owners are colluding, and that the issue isn’t Kaepernick’s abilities, but his commitment to kneeling in protest.
“Eric Reid went under oath and actually testified that he would consider alternatives to kneeling,” Geragos said. “Within three days, 72 hours, he had three different teams that were vying for him and to sign him. You tell me how is it that when he testified under oath, and it’s supposedly a private proceeding, three teams knew enough to reach out to his agent what he had said under oath that he would consider alternatives.”
Geragos also criticized the musical artists performing at the Super Bowl halftime show for crossing an “intellectual picket line,” saying it shows that they care more about their own careers than about whether what they’re doing is right. He also denied that Kaepernick had given his blessing to Travis Scott to perform, which had previously been reported.
Subscribe to The Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast
Apple Podcasts• Stitcher • Google Podcasts
More from Yahoo Sports:
• NFL commissioner breaks silence on blown no-call
• Did Saints coach take a shot at Goodell with his T-shirt?
• TV station worker fired for label on Pats’ Brady
• Wetzel: Browns QB turned the tables on all the doubters
