That's not really at issue. There are a lot of factors involved there -- if he had QB1 salary demands, but didn't have QB1 talent, then it's hard to say that he was better than QBs he wanted to start ahead of.
I'm happy to concede that he was starting caliber, because I think he was. I don't think you can realistically consider a player who was 1 for 11 in his last season a top QB, but he was definitely ahead of guys like Deshone Kizer, Brett Hundley, CJ Beathard. Looking at the list of QBs who started in 2017, I'd tentatively (and very subjectively) rank him ~21st -- but without knowing his salary demands, it's hard to say that what he wanted was commensurate with his ability to win games. The best player I'd put him clearly ahead of was making $4-4.5 million that year. He wanted $9-10 million and a chance to start. It was reported that he wanted $20 million to play in the AAFL. Beyond that, he had a chance to play in Baltimore, which I was excited for, before his girlfriend called the team's owner a slavemaster and the most iconic player associated with the city, a slave.
So, while we can debate the merits of whether or not he deserves to play football, he's turned down offers of $4-5 million to play in the CFL, had exorbitant salary demands to the AAFL, and ducked out of an opportunity to play in the offense best suited to his talents. Other players who knelt at the same time and in support of him still had careers well after Kaepernick.
Summing up, "Colin knelt and never played another game of football" misses not only a lot of context, but ignores the fact that he actually did play after kneeling, as have lots of other players.
I'm happy to concede that he was starting caliber, because I think he was. I don't think you can realistically consider a player who was 1 for 11 in his last season a top QB, but he was definitely ahead of guys like Deshone Kizer, Brett Hundley, CJ Beathard. Looking at the list of QBs who started in 2017, I'd tentatively (and very subjectively) rank him ~21st -- but without knowing his salary demands, it's hard to say that what he wanted was commensurate with his ability to win games. The best player I'd put him clearly ahead of was making $4-4.5 million that year. He wanted $9-10 million and a chance to start. It was reported that he wanted $20 million to play in the AAFL. Beyond that, he had a chance to play in Baltimore, which I was excited for, before his girlfriend called the team's owner a slavemaster and the most iconic player associated with the city, a slave.
So, while we can debate the merits of whether or not he deserves to play football, he's turned down offers of $4-5 million to play in the CFL, had exorbitant salary demands to the AAFL, and ducked out of an opportunity to play in the offense best suited to his talents. Other players who knelt at the same time and in support of him still had careers well after Kaepernick.
Summing up, "Colin knelt and never played another game of football" misses not only a lot of context, but ignores the fact that he actually did play after kneeling, as have lots of other players.