Stephen A. Smith Verified Colin Kaepernick doesn’t want to play - Reaction To Colin Kaepernick
#StephenASmith #ColinKaepernick #NFL #EricReid #Philadelphia Colin Kaepernick’s Bait & Switch With NFL Sparks Twitter War Between Stephen A. Smith and Eric Reid Who’s zooming who? Colin Kaepernick’s highly hyped “tryout” event for NFL scouts caused football fanatics to go apeshit yesterday. “Our biggest thing with everything today was to make sure we had transparency in what went on,” the Nike spokesperson said. “We weren’t getting that elsewhere, so we came out here.” According to the Associated Press, at least 50 media members scrambled to the Riverdale to cover his workout. And only eight of the original 25 team reps showed up to the new location, including Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry. Scouts from the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins were also reportedly in the place to be. The exiled quarterback has not been signed by any team since he opted out of his contract with the 49ers in March 2017 to become a free agent. He made headlines during the 2016 season for kneeling during the National Anthem before games to protest systematic racism and police brutality of blacks. “I’ve been ready for three years, I’ve been denied for three years,” Kaepernick told reporters following a 40-minute workout. “We all know why I came out here: to show you today, in front of everybody, we have nothing to hide. So we’re waiting for the 32 owners, the 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them, to stop running. Stop running from the truth, stop running from the people.” Sports Twitter – if that’s a thing, ala Black Twitter – exploded after what I will diplomatically refer to as … a media spectacle. And as can be expected, ESPN’s beloved commentator Stephen A. Smith got into the fray offering his two cents about the day’s bizarre events. Needless to say, he didn’t STANDWITHKAP. According to Smith: “This man wanted a chance. Twenty-five teams show up in Georgia at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility … And what does Colin Kaepernick do?” Smith said, in part. “Not Tuesday, when he found out about it. Not Wednesday, not Thursday, not Friday, Saturday, three hours before the workout, because of some issue with a liability waiver, Colin Kaepernick wants to change the venue. Colin Kaepernick wants his own receivers. Colin Kaepernick wants to video things himself. Colin Kaepernick wants the media … He don’t want to play. He wants to be a martyr.” Carolina Panthers player Eric Reid, who played with Kaepernick in San Francisco and filed a grievance against the league for allegedly shutting them out of the league for the protests, took umbrage to Smith’s comments, sparking a dialogue about who was tap dancing for the NFL. When news broke last week of Kaepernick’s tryout, Reid was skeptical and said it seemed like a “PR stunt.” “It’s disingenuous,” Reid said during a locker room interview on Tuesday. “They want the appearance of giving Colin a chance, but they give him two hours’ notice and tell it has to be on a Saturday when they know decision-makers are traveling. So is this real? We’ll see.” Reid must’ve been reading the tea leaves because here we are today. Lots of press. Lots of chatter. Lots of scuttlebutt. Any decisions? Either way, all eyes are on the NFL. And that means a big win for its advertising sales. Was it much ado about nothing as far as Kaepernick’s original cause?
