Originally Posted by Gordon Shumway

no no no.
the kaepernick thing started before the third preseason game when he was not named the starter.
he sat on the bench pouting - it was not a protest. that bullschitt came later.
before the protest he was likely going to get released. because no team keeps a $12million backup qb on their roster. but after the protests started he kept his job in part because the owner didn't want to deal with racism allegations considering he had just hired a coach who had been accused of racism in the past, including the previous nfl team he coached.
but the big kicker was when it came time to flex his option he opted out of his contract - he decided to quit.
he appears to have intentionally sabotaged chances to get back into the nfl. once by burning a bridge with ray lewis and the ravens. then again by making nfl scouts jump thru hoops to watch him workout.
once he opted out of his contract he had no intention of ever playing another down in the nfl. he became more valuable out of the nfl as long as he could sell the blackballed bullschitt story.
and obviously a lot of folks bought it.