Donald Trump May Have Prevented Colin Kaepernick Signing, Fans Express Outrage

John Newby

09/29/2019 07:30 pm EDT

Sunday morning, it was revealed that President Donald Trump may have prevented Colin Kaepernick from finding a job in the NFL. As ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith said during a segment on Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning, there was a possibility that the owners could potentially lose billions of dollars in revenue by having Kaepernick on the roster, which made them shy away from the roster move.

As Smith continued to explain, having gambling eventually legalized would require approval from Congress and President Donald Trump. Would the president refuse to give his approval if Kaepernick was on an NFL roster? Smith certainly believed that this was the case.

"Well, what was going on on Capitol Hill is that the owners, the NFL owners were trying to get involved with that, where they were trying to get a percentage of the bets and all of this other stuff that was going on," Smith continued. "So what happens is, we're talking billions. Well, guess what? In order for that to happen, you need Congress to sign off on it and you need the President to sign off on it. What you don't need is the President turning his attention towards you and going against you just because he doesn't like you."

As expected, this news brought about a range of responses, with a vocal majority expressing outrage at this possibility. There were also many that were simply unsurprised by the news. They had long believed this to be the case since Trump publicly criticized players kneeling during the National Anthem in 2017.

​

The comments by Smith about Trump may have made news for many, but there were a lot of individuals that were not shocked at all. Having the president criticize any potential signing was simply a foregone conclusion.

​

Is the president to blame for Kaepernick not having a job in the NFL? Smith certainly believes so, and he is joined by many others. In fact, some pointed out that it's entirely possible that the former San Francisco 49ers QB doesn't see another opportunity until another individual resides in the White House.

​

Kaepernick has been out of the league since the end of the 2016 season, and hasn't found any other opportunities to make a return. This has been a storyline for years, and there are many that are disappointed that no progress has been made. In fact, they believe it paints the league in a very bad light.

​

The reactions to this news about the president and Kaepernick certainly were split based on the political beliefs of those reading the article. However, there was a third group that was simply shocked by the news.

​

As the comments by Smith show, there could be a case made about Trump impacting Kaepernick's potential employment. Whether this is true or not hasn't been proven, but there are many that believe this theory. That being said, there are multiple others that actually view the lack of a job as a simple matter of Kaepernick not being very good.

​

Whenever Trump is mentioned, the immediate outpouring of comments varies wildly. Some agree with whatever he has done to make headlines while others are quick to condemn. This is a trend that never ends, and one person on Twitter found his pattern.

​

There are many that support Kaepernick and his quest to return to the NFL, but not everyone agrees with this opinion. In fact, there are many that are completely against him ever donning another NFL uniform and would potentially boycott the league.

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.

Latest News