Colin Kaepernick Is the NFL's 39th Highest Seller In Terms Of Merchandise, Despite Not Being In The NFL

Exclusively on @gmfb -- Colin Kaepernick comes in at 39th on the @NFLPA official merchandise top 50 list. Only player not on a team.

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) August 1, 2017

I simply cannot take this news sitting down. That's mostly because I'm afraid someone will start belting out the 'Star Spangled Banner' and label me a terrorist before I even work up the energy to appropriately salute. However, it's also because the idea that not signing a quarterback who is still moving an unforeseen amount of merchandise for a team he will never again play for is a "bad business decision" stands to reason far less candidly than Colin Kaepernick kneeled for his. 

I'm no retail wizard and I have a better chance of finding that oh-so-evasive "somewhere" over the rainbow than trying to figure out how the NFL splits the egregiously large pot at the end of theirs. That said, employing a backup quarterback that is more talented than damn near every other back-up quarterback who is also happens to sell a shit ton of jerseys to people who otherwise would have no interest in that franchise seems like a win-win in terms of football and finances. 

Now, I have no doubts that every owner that so much as acknowledged that Colin Kaepernick has the undeniable human right to sign an NFL contract was flooded with hate mail from the type of old, white conservatives that still think land and sea are the two most efficient ways to deliver a message. However, did anyone stop to consider that the dumbest people are most often the loudest? If money truly talks then aren't the shockingly high sales of one player's now-obsolete paraphernalia proof positive that the amount of people who would be drawn to a team in which they have no connection would probably outnumber the amount of fans who would follow through on their empty threat of boycotting? The people who mortgaged their house to purchase a personal seat license aren't going to give it up because a social activist that serves as a hell of an insurance policy happens to be on the sidelines, and Colin Kaepernick currently has a bigger following than any one team in the entire NFL.

It doesn't matter whether or not you acknowledge that engaging in a peaceful protest against oppression is one of the most American things a person can do. Just acknowledge that a billion dollar industry - that is most concerned about their bottomline - is going to need a better excuse than "business reasons" to banish him as if he were some unforgivable felon. Especially since he is still turning a profit for a league that's gone as far as saying he's "overqualified" in finding new and creative ways to justify his unemployment. 

If I were them I would go back to calling him a distraction. Who knows, it just might be vague enough to be true...

"see, this is why the ravens can't sign kap. every time our cops shoot someone, they're gonna ask him." -someone who wouldn't be all wrong.

— El Flaco (@bomani_jones) August 1, 2017