From a pure football standpoint, Colin Kaepernick has not had a Hall of Fame career. He only played six seasons*. His career yards-per-attempt, while very good, still ranks behind the likes of Marcus Mariota (who just lost his job) and Kirk Cousins. He got benched for Blaine Gabbert. He never won a title, though certainly not for a lack of effort. I have spent years rolling my eyes at NFL access merchants and other assorted hot takers claiming that Kaepernick has been on the curb for the past three years strictly because he wasn't good enough at football to merit a job: an easily debunked lie. But I'm not gonna argue with them if they say Kap's tenure on the field didn't earn him a bust in Canton. I can't argue with those people right now anyway, because I'm in quarantine and they're probably out Macing children at a Black Lives Matter protest.
But this stopped being a pure football argument the second people noticed Kaepernick taking a knee for the anthem before every kickoff. After that, every argument about Kaepernick centered on whether or not his protest - a basic plea for American police officers to stop assaulting and killing black people in their custody - was too big of a liability for teams to extend him a roster spot. For the past three years, the answer from every NFL team has been an unequivocal yes, with owners like John Mara declaring it outright. League owners huddled behind closed doors in 2017 to engineer ways to soothe their whitest fans in the wake of Kaepernick's demonstrations, either by forcing players to stand for the anthem or by paying lip service to racial justice causes as a way of placating those same players. With no small amount of internal rancor, they chose the latter option. The chuds stayed mad. The police kept on killing people.
This was the meeting where late Texans owner and racist s**tbag Bob McNair uttered his now infamous complaint, "We can't have the inmates running the prison." McNair's gripe is now the official attitude of both the president and of local police departments who have been set free to assault and terrorize Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. Kaepernick was so painfully right in his protest, especially now as America becomes a literal police state. For his part, Kaepernick has dedicated the bulk of his off-field time to funding and assisting the cause, which is now vital to preservation of the country itself. Kaepernick was right, and as such he now stands as the most important football player of my lifetime.
Which is why he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Two more years of blackballing - which is all but assured, even if they play the entirety of this upcoming NFL season in empty stadiums-and Kaepernick will technically be Hall eligible after the end of the 2021 season. When Kap does become eligible, they should vote his ass in. Even better, do it on the first ballot, so he gets a gold jacket before Drew Brees' pathetic, flag-sucking ass does.
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I don’t care that Kap’s on-field resume is lacking. He only played six seasons but, of course, owners deprived him of countless more. I have no idea what he would have done with those lost seasons. Given his play toward the end of this active career, he probably would have been average to sucky. Again, that’s immaterial to me. Put him in anyway. The man is a critical, living piece of football history.
The way Hall voting works right now is that a committee of 48 selectors cobble together a list of 18 finalists by ticking off a mail-in ballot, then they gather in conclave to pass final judgment on those finalists. Then one committee member gets up to make his or her case for one of the finalists, and if that finalist gets 80% of the vote, he makes it in.
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Kaepernick will almost certainly not make that pool of finalists. This is because of his stats, but also because, if you take a look at that list of 48 selectors, it’s not exactly oversaturated with people sympathetic to him. These are football people. They abhor the intrusion of real life into football nearly as much as Bob McNair did. They are all very much stick-to-sports types.
Also, the football Hall of Fame does not include a character clause. This is the clause that has essentially frozen the Baseball Hall Of Fame in place ever since Mike Lupica decided that players using steroids stole his innocence. Football’s committee is under no such obligations, which is usually a good thing, even if it means O.J. Simpson’s bust in Canton remains in place (except when it’s been stolen).
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But as Kaepernick proved, and as history has borne out, the old way of doing things has been horribly, anatomically flawed. Even within its rigid constraints, the PFHOF’s voting process is as subject to biases and whims as any other judging body. Art Monk got shunned by the Hall for years because he wouldn’t talk to reporters. Dan Dierdorf skated in because he’s a chummy TV guy.
That’s the system. People invent supposedly objective systems like this to hide their biases, and Kaepernick has been victimized by such systems.
The time has long since passed to destroy those systems. If Kaepernick’s enshrinement is an insult to players who accomplished more on the field, so be it. It’s worth the insult. If he didn’t play long enough, well the Hall inducted Gayle Sayers even though he only played full six seasons (his career was cut short by injury) because they loved him so much. God forbid they extend that same clandestine affection to Kaepernick, who took a knee and subsequently had his career obliterated for it.
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The man deserves official vindication. His influence on the sport is massive and will only grow as the games resume and players have to grapple with whether or not they want to be part of re-normalizing a country that has grown terrifyingly demented. If the committee had any gumption (they do not), they would toss aside cold analysis and consecrate Kaepernick as an immortal if only to make the football establishment squirm. Owners and racist fans banished Kaepernick because he dared to make them uncomfortable. It’s only fair to return the favor. Send this man to Canton and make the haters uncomfortable. Make them face down their own racism for all eternity.
Drew Magary is an in-house columnist for Medium’s GEN magazine, and a former writer for both Deadspin and GQ. His third novel, Point B, came out in April.
