In February, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid’s settled their collusion case against the NFL for an undisclosed sum, with a confidentiality agreement in place to keep the number private.
The agreement was seen as a win for Kaepernick, and there was rampant speculation about how big of a settlement he and Reid received. Given the potential cost of the grievance against the NFL, many felt Kaepernick and Reid received a gigantic sum, but according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, it was for less than $10 million.
The report notes that Kaepernick and Reid faced an uphill battle in winning their grievance in proving without a doubt that teams colluded to not sign Kaepernick and he should’ve been signed. Still, there was reason for the NFL to want to settle relatively quickly, both to get the story out of the news cycle and to prevent more details from becoming public, because even if they won the case public sentiment could have swung further towards the players — especially if it ended up moving to the courts.
Getting millions in a settlement is far from a loss for Kaepernick, as it indicated to the public that the NFL was, at the least, concerned about the case enough to pay out to put it to an end before reaching an arbitrator. The question now is what’s next for Kaepernick, as he continues to be without a quarterbacking job in the NFL or elsewhere. There have been rumors of interest from the XFL and every time a mediocre quarterback is signed in the NFL, there are many that wonder why that spot didn’t go to Kap.
Reid, meanwhile, inked a new deal with the Panthers this offseason after joining the team during the season last year, and continues to voice his support for Kap and the movement he started.
