More than 1,000 people gathered in front of the NFL’s offices Wednesday in New York to support Colin Kaepernick. The next day, LeSean McCoy said he doesn’t think Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem last season is the reason Kaepernick is unemployed. He just doesn’t think Kaepernick is a very good player.
LeSean McCoy is the latest person to have a bad take about Colin Kaepernick
McCoy thinks Kaepernick’s anthem protests aren’t the reason he’s unemployed. He’s wrong.
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Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
“It’s a lot more than just he’s not on the team because he doesn’t want to stand for the national anthem,” McCoy said, via Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News. “That may have something to do with it, but I think also it has a lot to do with his play. I’m sure a lot of teams wouldn’t want him as their starting quarterback. That chaos that comes along with it, it’s a lot.
“There’s certain players that could be on the team with big distractions, and there’s other players that it’s not good enough or not worth it. I think his situation is not good enough to have him on the team with all the attention that comes along with it.”
McCoy said that for an elite player, like Tom Brady, teams would be willing to look past it. But not for Kaepernick.
Michael Vick was McCoy’s teammate in Philadelphia from 2009 through 2013, and McCoy said that Vick’s baggage stemming from his dogfighting conviction was worth it because of his talent.
“He’s 10 times better than Kaepernick,” McCoy said. “You’ll deal with that situation, that attention, that media aspect of it. The good, the bad attention you’ll get. Compared to Kaepernick, it’s like, he’s not really that good of a player to deal with.”
Retired NFL defensive end Stephen White watched Kaepernick’s film and sets the record straight.
But McCoy is wrong. Last season, Kaepernick played in 12 games for the 49ers and put up 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns, and just four interceptions without a ton of talent around him.
Kaepernick remains unsigned despite some truly terrible quarterback play around the league this preseason. As time passes, it becomes more obvious that he is being blackballed.
Kaepernick is easily better than, say, Blake Bortles. But the Jaguars haven’t made a move, despite owner Shad Khan saying Thursday that he would be fine with the team signing Kaepernick:
McCoy isn’t the first person to be wrong about Colin Kaepernick. And he won’t be the last, either.
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