No boundary respect,’ Kaepernick, who earned an average annual salary of $19 million during his playing days, continued. ‘No dignity left intact.’
Kaepernick – who earned an average annual salary of $19 million – became a controversial figure in the NFL in 2016, when he started kneeling during the playing of the US national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice while playing for the San Francisco 49ers. In a clip from the new special, released on October 29, he says potential players are “paraded out” in front of coaches, scouts, and owners — who measure their physical talents and on-field abilities. Colin Kaepernick goes on to say coaches will tell players they want their guys to be warriors, killers, beasts, and animals on the gridiron.
Before they put you on the field, teams poke, prod, and examine you searching for any defect that might affect your performance. No boundary respect. No dignity left intact.
Colin Kaepernick, in his new Netflix special, compares NFL training camps to slavery. pic.twitter.com/bu5C2alild
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 30, 2021
The screen then jumps to a new scene … in which the mostly Black players that were just running up and down the field are now standing on an auction block, shirtless and in shackles. You see white masters bartering over who to buy, and make an exchange. Colin says teams “poke, prod and examine you” and search for any “defect” — without any dignity or respect for said player. His point is that kids getting into this sports biz might not see it this way — but he firmly insists, they’re being groomed into a slave system.
Later in the video, the owners start lashing at the players with whips as Kaepernick tries to draw a comparison between the abuse slaves suffered at the hands of their owners in the US and the NFL Scouting Combine, a week-long showcase that determines which upcoming prospects are drafted into the league.
As the clip from the Netflix special went viral, Kaepernick was blasted on social media
One user tagged Kaepernick’s account:
Another user went as far as calling Kaepernick an imbecile in his post:
Super Bowl Champion and current US Representative Burgess Owens, who is also black, shared his opinion on Twitter:
Kaepernick’s name nationally came to the surface in 2016 for sitting and kneeling during the national anthem as a member of the San Francisco 49ers due to what he said at the time was a protest gesture against police brutality in the US. The following year, he decided to opt-out of his contract to become a free agent. But no other team in the NFL has signed him and he hasn’t played in the league since 2016. The former quarterback has insisted that his failure to rejoin the league was due to being blacklisted by NFL owners who opposed his anthem protests. He sued the NFL and ultimately received an undisclosed settlement.
Since his NFL days, Colin Kaepernick has received endorsements from major companies including Nike, a Netflix deal, EA sports, and other deals that have reportedly lured him tens of millions of dollars. In six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick appeared in 69 games and completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 12,271 yards with 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He added 13 rushing touchdowns.